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Maids &? Matrons of New France 



Madame de la Peltrie. 



Maids & Matrons of 
New France 

By 
MARY SIFTON PEPPER 

Illustrated 



4* 



Boston 

Little, Brown, and Company 

1901 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Recejveo 

OCT. 15 1901 

COPVRIQMT ENTRY 

CLASS (X'XXc No. 

/ cj C ^S 

COPY B. 






Copyright, rQOf, 
By Little, Brown, and Company 

jlll rights reserved 



October, 1901 



UNIVERSITY PRESS • JOHN WILSON 
AND SON • CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 



/ 



♦^^' 



4!/ 



If 



To 

THE MEMORY OF 

MT MO T H ER 

Christine Lindsay Pepper 



Table of Chapters 



PAGE 

Introduction ^ 

First Period 

PIONEER WOMEN OF ACADIA 

CHAPTER 

I. Marguerite de Roberval, the Heroine of 

the Isle of Demons 8 

II. The Marchioness de Guercheville, First 

Patroness of American Missions . . i8 

III. The Lady de la Tour, a Fair Chatelaine 

of Acadia 35 

Second Period 

PIONEER WOMEN OF QUEBEC 

I. Dame Hebert 5^ 

II. Madame de Champlain, the First Lady of 

Canada 8o 

III. Madame de la Peltrie, Foundress of the 

First Girls' School in Canada ... 87 
vii 



Table of Chapters 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IV. Mother Marie Guyard of the Incarnation 112 

V. Some Dainty Nurses of Long Ago . . 138 



Third Period 

MAIDS OF MONTREAL 

I. The Founding of Montreal 151 

II. The Work of Jeanne Mance and Mar- 
guerite Bourgeois 165 

III. Judith de Bresoles and her Companions . 183 

IV. Jeanne le Ber, the Recluse of Montreal . 200 

V. Madeleine de Vercheres, the Heroine of 

Castle Dangerous 220 

Fourth Period 

ADVENT OF THE CARIGNAN REGIMENT 

I. Coming of the King's Girls, or Mar- 
riages and Social Life in New France . 239 

II. Women in the First Siege of Quebec . . 256 

III. The Two Pompadours, or Women in the 

Downfall of New France .... 269 



vm 



Authorities Consulted 



Relation DEs Jesuites, i6io— 1672. 

Les Jesuites et la Nouvelle France, par Le P. Camille 

Rochemonteix. 
Histoire de la Venerable Marie de l'Incarnation, par 

I'Abbe H. R. Casgrain. 
Vie de Mademoiselle Mance, par Adrien Leblond, B. L. 
Vie de Mademoiselle Le Ber — Villemarie: Chez les Soeurs 

de la Congregation Notre Dame. 
Histoire de la Conversion des Sauvages, par Marc Les- 

carbot. 
Premier Etablissement de La Foy dans la Nouvelle 

France, par Le P. Chrestien Le Clerc. 
Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par Le P. Charlevoix. 
Jacques Cartier and the Four Voyages to Canada, by 

H. B. Stephens. 
Cartier to Frontenac, by Justin Winsor. 
Narrative and Critical History of America, by Justin 

Winsor. 
Works of Francis Parkman. 
History of Acadia, by James Hannay. 
New York Colonial Documents. 
A Short History of the Canadian People, by George 

Bryce, M.A. 



Illustrations 



Madame de la Peltrie Frontispiece 

From the painting by C. Huot, in the Ursuline Convent, 
Quebec. 

Jacques Cartier Page lo 

From the original painting by F. Riss, in the Town Hall of St. 
Malo, France. 

Isle of Demons 



Henri IV. and Madame de Guercheville . , . 

From a drawing by F. de Myrbach. 

Port Royal, 1609 

From Champlain's drawing. 

Samuel de Champlain 

From the Ducornet Portrait. 

Quebec, from Point Levy 

From an engraving by P. Canot, after a drawing by Richard 
Short. 

The Old French Inn 

From a photograph. 

Marie Guyard, Mother Mary de 1' Incarnation 

From an engraving by J. Edelinck, in the Ursuline Convent, 
Quebec. 

Ursuline Convent, Quebec . . . . 

From the painting in the possession of the Order, Quebec. 

Duchesse d'Aiguillon 

From the painting in the Hotel Dieu, Quebec. 

xi 



12 

22 

30 
56 

73 

103 
1 12 

135 
150 



sy 



Illustrations 

First Mass at Montreal P'^Z^ i6o 

From the bas-relief on the Maisonneuve Monument in the Place 
d'Armes, Montreal, by Philippe Hebert. 

Figure of Jeanne Mance ''171 

From the Maisonneuve Monument in the Place d'Armes, 
Montreal, by Philippe Hebert 

Marguerite Bourgeoys ** 180 

From an engraving by L. Massard. 

An East View of Montreal "187 

From an engraving by P. Canot, after a drawing by Thomas 
Patton. 

The Death of Dollard "197 

From the bas-relief on the Maisonneuve Monument in the Place 
d'Armes, Montreal, by Philippe Hebert. 

Louis XIV ♦« 240 

From the painting by Jean Garnier, in the Versailles Gallery. 

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pom- 
padour " 270 

From an engraving by G. de Montaut, after the painting by 
La Tour. 

" The Old Mansion still Stands " *' 279 

From a photograph. 

Louis Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm-Gazon de 

Saint-Veran <* 283 

From the painting in the possession of the Marquis de Montcalm, 



ZIl 



Maids and Matrons 
of New France 

INTRODUCTION 

^ I ^HE nineteen pioneer women who dis- 
-*- embarked on the shores of Massachu- 
setts in 1620 have been celebrated ever 
since in romance and poetry. Twelve years 
earlier a banner bearing the lilies of France 
was planted on the headlands of Quebec. 
The colony thus inaugurated was increased 
from time to time by the emigration of 
small groups of women from the mother 
country. These few heroic souls, the pio- 
neer women of Canada, played as important 
a part in its growth, and are as worthy of 
eternal remembrance, as their Anglo-Saxon 
sisters of New England. Yet, with few ex- 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

ceptions, they have waited in vain for a poet 
to tell in immortal verse their heroic deeds, 
or an historian to perpetuate their fame. 

The history of many of these women of 
the Canadian wilderness never will be known, 
for it is buried under the soil moistened by 
their sweat and tears. One of the intrepid 
sisterhood, Jeanne Mance, has been com- 
memorated by a part of a monument in 
Montreal ; an island resort in the St. Law- 
rence recalls by its name the brief sojourn 
of Helen de Champlain on these shores ; 
the annals of a few others have been written 
by graphic historians; but monuments and 
histories have done little toward making 
their names known beyond the confines of 
the land where they labored and died. 

They were few in number : one patient 
housewife eking out a frugal existence on 
the rock of Quebec ; two or three gentle- 
women, who, with a sublime but misplaced 
confidence in the docility of the savages, un- 

2 



Introduction 

dertook to teach and civilize them ; some 
who attempted to introduce the corruption 
and gayety of the French court into this 
primitive civilization ; representatives of re- 
ligious sisterhoods whom the most appall- 
ing difficulties could not discourage ; and, at 
last, after nearly a century of failure had 
opened the eyes of the colonization com- 
panies of the Old World, young women who 
were sent over by the shipful to become the 
matrons of New France. If the order had 
been reversed. New France might still be 
vying with her neighbor, New England, in 
prosperity and progress. 

A comparison between these two com- 
panies of pioneer women, the Canadian 
gentlewomen and the Pilgrim mothers, 
would result in no discredit to the former. 
Although the Frenchwomen were domi- 
nated by strange superstitions and fre- 
quently inspired by supernatural visions, 
they never became slaves to witchcraft, as 

3 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

did their New England contemporaries. 
Many of them would even nowadays be 
looked upon as " emancipated " and " ad- 
vanced." Yet it was nearly three centuries 
ago that Judith de Bresoles renounced the 
luxury of a wealthy and aristocratic home 
and devoted seven years to the study of 
chemistry and medicine, that she might 
become physician and nurse to the savages 
of the New World ; that Marguerite de 
Roberval, descendant of a long line of cava- 
liers and noble dames, wandered alone 
through the haunted wastes of Demon's 
Isle, and kept at bay the wild beasts of the 
wilderness with her old French harquebus ; 
that Marie Guyard, with her few brave 
assistants, delicately nurtured and high-born 
women of France, made of themselves, in 
turn, mechanics, architects, and farmers in 
their adopted land ; that those dainty nurses, 
the hospitalieres of Quebec, dyed their cher- 
ished white gowns a dull brown that they 

4 



Introduction 

might follow their profession more efficiently 
amid the smoke and uncleanliness of the 
squalid wigwams. " Who now will hesitate 
to cross over the seas," exclaims a poor 
missionary, at sight of these courageous 
gentlewomen, " since delicate young ladies, 
naturally timid, set at naught the vast ex- 
panse of ocean? They, who are afraid of 
a few flakes of snow in France, are ready to 
face whole acres of it here ! " 

The coming of these women to the New 
World was in great part due to the urgent 
cries for woman's help sent over the sea 
by these missionaries, who put forth many 
inducements for their emigration, among 
others, the great salubrity of the Canadian 
climate. One of them writes that the air of 
New France is healthful for the body as 
well as for the soul, while another declares 
that although the cold is very wholesome 
for both sexes, it is especially so for women, 
who are almost immortal in Canada. 

5 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Marc Lescarbot, a society wit of Paris, 
returned to France from the ruined Acadian 
colony of 1607 ^^^ wrote a learned treatise 
on the conditions necessary to the making 
of permanent settlements in New France, 
among others urging the need of women 
there. If there had been some good village 
housewife to look after the cows transported 
thither with such a vast deal of trouble, they 
would not have died and left him and his 
companions without fresh milk and butter. 
He finished his dissertation on this subject 
by berating soundly that wiseacre of old who 
had said that women were an evil, though a 
necessary one, for men could not get along 
without them. 

But this open flattery of Lescarbot, as 
well as the earnest appeals of Champlain 
and the missionaries, met with only indiffer- 
ent success during the first half-century of 
the colonization of New France, as will be 
seen in the course of this narrative. The 

6 



Introduction 

women who came at last may be historically 
associated with four important periods in 
the making of Canada: the first attempts at 
colonization in Acadia, beginning in 1604; 
Quebec's early struggles to gain a foothold 
between 1608 and 1660; the founding of 
Montreal in 1642; and the advent of the 
Carignan regiment into Canada in 1665. 



FIRST PERIOD 

PIONEER WOMEN OF ACADIA 

I 

MARGUERITE DE ROBERVAL, 

THE HEROINE OF THE ISLE OF DEMONS 

lY^ANY thrilling stories are related of 
■^^-^ the making of these French colonies 
in the New World, in which brave men met 
their fate, and others survived almost in- 
credible hardships and perils. A few 
modern historians, referring to this period, 
have spoken briefly of the adventures of 
an unhappy woman, Marguerite de Rober- 
val, on the Isle of Demons. They owe the 
story to a quaint old cosmographer, Andre 
Thevet, who relates it with many pictur- 
esque additions. Here it is as gathered from 
his account : — 

8 



Marguerite de Roberval 

One beautiful spring day in the year 
1542 a haughty viceroy's ship was pursuing 
its way across the Atlantic. Suddenly it 
stopped opposite a lonely island. The vice- 
roy had just been informed of a guilty in- 
trigue between his niece, Marguerite, and 
a young cavalier of his company, abetted 
by the old nurse, Bastienne. His punish- 
ment was swift and terrible. A boat con- 
taining the two women, a few stores, and 
four French harquebuses, was lowered and 
pushed away. The lover jumped overboard, 
swam diligently in its wake, and reached 
the shore of the island at the same time as 
the occupants of the boat. Then the three 
exiles, turning their faces toward the sea, 
saw with agonized hearts the forbidding 
hulk of the viceroy's ship, relentless as its . 
master, move off and leave them to their 
fate. On to the shores of Newfoundland 
the viceroy, the great Sieur de Roberval, 
pursued his way, there to meet the master 

9 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

pilot of the age, Jacques Cartier, and with 
him to found a colony which would perpet- 
uate the name of France in the New World. 
But Cartier met Roberval and his com- 
pany before they had reached the appointed 
place, for he was on his way back to France. 
The old chronicler says that " he enformed 
the Generall that he could not, with his 
small company, withstand the savages, which 
went about daily to annoy him, and that this 
was the cause of his return into France." 
Thus deserted, Roberval 's attempts at settle- 
ment proved disastrous failures ; the scurvy, 
cold, and starvation proved to be insur- 
mountable barriers to the execution of his 
plans. His whole company soon found them- 
selves in such a condition of misery that 
they became mutinous, and to keep them 
in order he resorted to the most extreme 
penalties, hanging, imprisoning, and whip- 
ping " as well women as men, by which means 
they lived in quiet." The following year 

lO 




Jacques Cartier 



Marguerite de Roberval 

they again turned their prows toward their 
native land and sailed past the Isle of 
Demons, heedless of the fate of the hapless 
exiles they had left there. 

In the maps made soon after this voyage, 
which even now may be seen in the great 
National Library at Paris, it was designated 
" The Maiden's Isle," owing to Marguerite 
de Roberval's banishment there. She had 
seen a representation of the place in an old 
chart which hung upon the walls of the 
chateau in Picardy where she had lived with 
her uncle. Devils, with horns, wings, and 
tails, stalked about, and flew like bats through 
the air ; horrible monsters floated in the sur- 
rounding waters, and the savages in their 
canoes hurried wildly to the opposite shores. 
Basque and Maloine fishermen, who haunted 
these regions in search of the precious cod- 
fish for the Lenten season in France, had 
heard strange sounds there, — wailing voices, 
groans, fiendish shouts, and bacchanalian 

II 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

revels, — which caused them to cross them- 
selves and flee in terror. Many a time Mar- 
guerite had stood fascinated before this 
picture, and had lifted up her heart in 
thankfulness to the Virgin that the great 
ocean lay between her and this haunted spot. 

Yet it was here that she and her lover, 
with no priest to consecrate their union, 
established their home, the first in Canada. 
The group of three was soon augmented by 
the advent of a child, and the miniature 
settlement bade fair to become a factor in 
the growth of a great colony. But after a 
few months death left Marguerite alone to 
battle with her fate. She hollowed out with 
her own hands the graves of husband, child, 
and nurse, and then began a struggle for 
life. 

Clad in shaggy bearskins, her gun over 
her shoulder, this " female Robinson Crusoe " 
trod the dreary wastes of her island home, 
wandering here and there in search of game, 

12 



Isle of Demons 



Marguerite de Roberval 

or looking longingly for the outlines of some 
friendly sail against the dim horizon. At 
night, in agonies of fear, she barricaded the 
door to keep out the bears that roamed 
about her cabin, or, worse still, the shriek- 
ing demons that she thought she saw look- 
ing in at her through the chinks in the wall. 
Her sole protectors were her guns, and these 
she used to frighten away the evil spirits in 
the air, or to kill the beasts of prey. Three 
of the bears brought down by her harquebus 
are said to have been " as white as an ^%%'' 

Once she saw far out at sea a canoe of 
Indians who seemed to be coming towards 
the island. But their painted faces, ridges 
of bristling hair, and gleaming tomahawks 
filled her with greater terror than the 
demons themselves, and she fled shrieking 
to her cabin. They, too, turned quickly 
back, for they saw in this strange creature 
the wife of the Manitou, the source of all 
their ills. 

13 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

She succeeded, after weeks of labor, in 
constructing a canoe like those she had seen 
pictured in the old charts. In this she de- 
termined to venture forth in search of the 
mainland, for she had lost all hope of ever 
being rescued by any of her countrymen. 
A trial trip was made in it, but after a few 
rods of perilous navigation, the canoe, lack- 
ing the nicety of proportion so well known 
to the Indians, overturned, and its occupant 
was thrown into the sea. She swam safely 
to the shore, but the canoe floated off into 
the distance, telling no story to any chance 
fisherman that might see it but that of a 
drowned savage. 

Two years passed, and Marguerite con- 
tinued to live in her island home, contending - 
with enemies alike in earth, air, and forest, 
and frequently driven to the extremity of 
biting off the ends of fresh young twigs for 
food. But one October day some Maloine 
fishermen were setting forth from the New- 

14 



Marguerite de Roberval 

foundland Banks on their homeward voy- 
age. Gazing out to sea, one of them saw 
smoke curling up from the shores of the 
haunted island. Straining their eyes, they 
could discern the figure of a woman clad 
in ragged skins. She was beckoning them 
to come on. They hesitated, for the stories 
they had heard of these evil spirits recurred 
to their minds. This might be one luring 
them on to destruction. Then suddenly an 
old sailor recalled the story of Roberval's 
niece. Pity and curiosity conquered their 
fear, and they hastened to the island and 
disembarked. 

The fur-clad, haggard woman proved in 
truth to be the beautiful Marguerite de 
Roberval who had been banished there. 
When she heard her native tongue spoken 
once more and realized that her rescuers 
had come at last, and that her lonely vigil 
was at an end forever, she sank upon the 
ground and with tears of joy lifted up her 

IS 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

heart in thanksgiving to God. Without de- 
lay the fishermen, listening to her strange 
story with pity and amazement, made a 
place for her in their rude craft and all em- 
barked on the homeward journey. As the 
dark outlines of the Isle of Demons disap- 
peared from view. Marguerite's spirits rose, 
and, again the happy, light-hearted French 
girl, she poured into the ears of these rude 
but sympathetic listeners the harrowing 
tale of her bereavements, adventures, and 
sufferings. 

Arrived in France, her troubles were not 
yet over. After an exile of two years and 
five months, she found herself still pursued 
by the wrath of her relentless uncle, and 
was obliged to hide herself in a little vil- 
lage of Perigord. Here she remained for 
several years, when, on a second expedition 
to the New World, Roberval and all his 
crew perished, or at least were never heard 
from again. Let us hope that some auspi- 

i6 



Marguerite de Roberval 

cious breeze blew him out of his course and 
landed him on the Isle of Demons, there 
to taste indefinitely the delights to which 
he had so cheerfully consigned his niece. 
When year after year passed and he did 
not return, she came forth from her hiding- 
place and lived happily to a good old age. 



17 



II 

THE MARCHIONESS DE 
GUERCHEVILLE 

FIRST PATRONESS OF AMERICAN MISSIONS 

"\ TORE than half a century after the 
^^ -'^ failure of the colonization projects 
of Jacques Cartier, de Roberval, and their 
immediate successors they were revived by 
the Sieurs de Monts, de Poutrincourt, and 
Samuel de Champlain under the patronage 
of their king, Henry the Great. The piety 
of this sovereign went hand in hand with his 
ambition, and he determined to send mis- 
sionaries to these new colonies for the 
conversion of the savages to the Christian 
religion. The question then arose whether 
Catholics or Huguenots should be selected 
for this mission, and how they should be 
transported thither. 

i8 



The Marchioness de Guercheville 

The Sieur de Poutrincourt, a friend and 
ally of the Catholic king, but secretly io 
sympathy with the Huguenots, was about to 
depart for New France. He had received 
from the king extensive grants of land in 
Acadia, where a great and powerful colony 
was to be established. One of the con- 
ditions of this grant was that he should take 
with him such missionaries as should be 
designated, but when the choice fell upon a 
Jesuit, Father Pierre Biard, the Huguenot 
knight resolved not to burden himself with 
this unwelcome guest. Accordingly, he 
slipped away one day in February, 1610, 
accompanied by a secular priest. 

Two years were passed by Biard in at- 
tempts to get to his future field of labor. 
Meanwhile, over in Acadia, Poutrincourt's 
clerical ally was making the most of his time 
by baptizing all the Indians that came to the 
settlement. A few drops of water and a 
Christian name, which none of them suc- 
19 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

ceeded in remembering afterwards, gave 
them admission into the same heaven that 
their friends and protectors, the great Nor- 
mans, expected to enter after death. 

As soon as there had been obtained a 
sufficiently large number of these new Chris- 
tians, of whom the star was an old chief, 
Membertou, who had been serving the devil 
for more than a hundred years, a list of tlieir 
names, Indian and Christian, was taken back 
to France by Charles de Biencourt, Poutrin- 
court's son. These converts to the faith 
were expected so to dazzle the eyes of the 
court that the claims of the Jesuits would be 
disregarded, and the Huguenot emissaries 
would be allowed to continue the work of 
conversion in their own way. 

Meanwhile, King Henry had been stricken 
down by the assassin, Ravaillac, and it was 
to the queen alone, the famous Marie de 
Medicis, that the list of baptized Indians 
was presented. As had been expected, she 
20 



The Marchioness de Guercheville 

was greatly pleased with this imposing array 
of converts in her far-away colonies. She 
expressed herself in such unstinted words 
of praise for Poutrincourt's zeal that Biard 
seemed destined to remain in France. And 
so, indeed, the affair would have turned 
out, had it not been for the interference of 
an active lady, the Marchioness de Guerche- 
ville, prototype of the women of to-day who 
stand for the propagation of their religious 
belief. 

She had been one of the belles in the 
earlier days of King Henry's reign, and was 
famed throughout France for her beauty and 
wit. Many tales are told of the power of her 
charms, which extended even to the king 
himself. He became one of her ardent 
wooers. But Madame de Guercheville, 
knowing that her rank was not high enough 
to permit her to become his wife, held her 
honor too high to occupy a less honorable 
place in his household. She therefore re- 

21 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

pulsed his gallantries with spirit, and repeat- 
edly left the court in order to avoid them. 
Once he pursued her to her own chateau 
some distance from Paris. Francis Parkman 
relates in a vivid manner how she succeeded 
in eluding her royal admirer this time also. 

There was a royal hunting party in the 
vicinity of her chateau, and the king, with 
two or three companions, purposely became 
separated from his suite. He made his way 
to her chateau, sending forward a messenger 
to ask for a night's shelter under her roof. 
His request was freely granted, and elaborate 
preparations were made for his reception. 
Every window was illuminated, gorgeously 
attired pages holding blazing torches were 
stationed at the gate, and the marchioness, 
in dazzling costume of rich brocade and 
sparkling with jewels, stood in the doorway 
to welcome him. While refreshing himself 
in his apartment, the king was hastily in- 
formed by one of his attendants that the 

22 



Henry IV. and Madame de Gnercheville 




"i^^sS^ 




The Marchioness de Guercheville 

marchioness was about to depart in her car- 
riage. Descending hurriedly, he found the 
report to be true, and exclaimed, in amaze- 
ment, " What, Madame, am I driving you 
from your home ? " " Sire," replied the lady, 
calmly, " where a king is, he should be mas- 
ter ; for my part, I prefer to have some 
authority where I am ; " and without further 
delay she entered her carriage and was 
driven to the house of a friend. 

The king returned to Paris and gave up 
his suit. But it is evident he bore no malice 
toward the spirited marchioness for thus 
repulsing him, as years afterwards, when she 
reappeared at court, he presented her to 
the queen with these words, " Madame, I 
give you a Lady of Honor, who is a lady 
of honor indeed." 

But now her youth was passed, her beauty 
gone, and nothing remained save her in- 
tegrity, indomitable will, and intense piety. 
She had constituted herself patroness of the 

23 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

American missions, and no less an ambition 
filled her breast than the conquest of the 
whole western continent for the propagation 
of the Catholic faith. When she saw there 
was danger of the Jesuits being frustrated 
in their purpose, she determined to take 
the matter into her own hands and arouse 
the sympathy of the court in their favor. 

Two Huguenot merchants, Du Jardin and 
Du Chesne, the latter an ancestor of the 
famous Duquesne, were helping Biencourt 
equip his ship for the return voyage to 
Acadia. It was arranged that Biard and 
another Jesuit, Ennemond Masse, should 
take passage on this ship, and accordingly 
they were sent to Dieppe to be ready for 
its departure. When the merchants learned 
that these missionaries were to be among 
their passengers, they flatly refused to go 
on with their preparations, swearing their 
loudest Huguenot oaths that if representa- 
tives of this order were to be on the ship, 

24 



The Marchioness de Guercheville 

they would have nothing more to do with 
it ; they would take any other priests or 
ecclesiastics, but no Jesuits, unless it were 
to transport the whole order across the sea. 

Madame de Guercheville, who had sup- 
posed that her proteges were well on their 
way to America by this time, was exasper- 
ated beyond measure when she heard of the 
failure of her well-arranged plans. She re- 
solved to punish the rebellious merchants 
in a way that would wound them the most 
deeply, which was to buy the whole outfit 
and compel them to withdraw entirely from 
the undertaking. Learning that four thou- 
sand francs would pay for all they furnished, 
she determined to raise this amount by tak- 
ing up a collection among the courtiers and 
noblemen who surrounded her. The appeal 
of so charming and popular a lady was met 
gallantly and generously, and soon the re- 
quired amount was raised. This the mar- 
chioness, with a shrewdness worthy of a 

25 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

modern financier, made doubly profitable to 
the Jesuits. She bought off the Huguenot 
merchants, and, besides, gave the Jesuits 
their interest in the Canadian fishing and 
fur trade. 

They departed on the twenty-sixth of 
January, 1611, as masters of the ship. A 
long and trying voyage awaited them, in 
which, as Biard writes afterwards in his 
journal, they endured " the sum total of 
human ills," encountering winds, tempests, 
and fogs, but, most wonderful and formidable 
of all, huge icebergs, as " tall and large as 
the church of Notre Dame." It was after- 
wards reported in France that they did not 
fail to assert their authority during this 
voyage, making themselves quite obnoxious 
to the Huguenots. This accusation is denied 
solemnly by Biard in his narrative, where 
he declares that he and his companion spent 
their time in hearing confessions, celebrating 
mass, and engaging in other pious exercises. 

26 



The Marchioness de Guercheville 

"What a woman wills, God wills," the 
French say. And so it seemed in this case, 
for through the adroit management of this 
clever woman the first Jesuit missionaries 
disembarked on the shores of the New 
World. A cross was erected, and the arms 
of the Marchioness de Guercheville were 
blazoned thereon, as token that they took 
possession of the country in her name. 

But her trials as protectress of these mis- 
sionaries were not yet over. They soon 
found that life in Port Royal, under the 
dictatorship of their religious antagonists, 
was not a path of roses, the savagery and 
superstition of the Indians being the least 
formidable evils. Poutrincourt, vexed at the 
presence of these *' black gowns," as he called 
them, placed all the obstacles possible in the 
way of their success. Two years, therefore, 
after their arrival they were eagerly watch- 
ing for the ship that was to take them 
away. 

27 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

One day in May, 1613, the colonists had 
gone into the interior in search of food, leav- 
ing the httle settlement in charge of Louis 
Hebert, an apothecary of Paris, of whom we 
shall hear more hereafter. The two friars 
had remained at Port Royal, lest the ship 
that they knew to be coming for them 
should arrive in their absence. They were 
now at open variance with Poutrincourt and 
his son, and had been accused by the latter 
in their letters to France of many misdeeds. 
The whole settlement was on the point of 
starvation, and the friars, with the rest, had 
been obliged to resort to the most desperate 
devices to keep away the demon of hunger. 
Ennemond Masse, who had been aptly 
named " Father Useful," had fashioned a 
canoe, openly derided by some of the law- 
less young colonists, but greatly coveted 
when it was launched and floated smoothly 
down the river. In this the two friars, who 
were obliged to forage for themselves, pad- 

28 



The Marchioness de Guercheville 

died along the banks eagerly searching for 
the nutritious root now known as the potato, 
which had formed their chief food for many 
months. But their quest this day was fruit- 
less, and with starvation and failure staring 
them in the face, they returned dejectedly to 
the deserted settlement, and, pacing slowly 
up and down the shore, strained their eyes 
seaward to catch the first glimpse of the 
longed-for ship. 

Over in Old France, Madame de Guerche- 
ville had heard of their trials and of the 
failure of their efforts in behalf of the sav- 
ages, owing to the opposition of their ene- 
mies. She resolved to form a new colony 
on the Penobscot, far from the boundaries 
of the vast territory granted to Poutrincourt. 
She was urged by Champlain, who was then 
contemplating a colony at Quebec, to join 
forces with the Sieur de Monts, who was 
fitting out another expedition to Acadia. 
But the very evil she was trying to escape 
29 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

at Port Royal would have been doubly felt 
in the new colony, for de Monts was a stern 
Calvinist. Her company was composed of 
forty-eight persons, including two more Jes- 
uits who were to take the place of Biard 
and Masse, in case they had perished, which 
was strongly suspected. 

This expedition, commanded by the Sieur 
de la Saussaye, sailed on March 12, 161 3, 
and arrived at Port Royal early in May. 
Here they were received by the two mis- 
sionaries with tears of joy, and no time was 
lost in taking them on board and bear- 
ing them away to the new colony. 

But the trials of these long-suffering friars 
had only begun. The location chosen for 
the new settlement was Mount Desert Is- 
land, which, on account of their miracu- 
lous preservation from a furious tempest, 
the new colonists named St. Savior. Here 
the settlement was established amid great 
enthusiasm and good cheer, the Jesuits 

30 



PORT ROYAL, i6og 

From Champ lain'' s Drawing 



A 
B 


Workmen's Quarters. 
Platform with Cannon. 


G 

H 


The Bakery. 
The Kitchen. 


C 

D 


The Magazine. 

Dwelling of the Sieur de Pont- 


K 
L 


The Cemetery. 
The River. 




grave and Champlain. 


O 


Small house where we stored our 


E 
F 


The Forge. 
Stockade. 




ships' tools ; later rebuilt by 
the Sieur de Poutrincourt. 



I, M, N, not defined in the original text. 



The Marchioness de Guercheville 

signalizing the beginning of their mission- 
ary labors by baptizing a dying Indian 
child. 

Not long after the landing of the French 
at this place an English ship from Virginia, 
under the command of Captain Argall, well 
known in colonial history as the abductor of 
Pocahontas, was hovering about in these 
waters laying in a supply of codfish for the 
winter. A simple and confiding Indian, 
discovered walking along the shore, was 
captured and taken to the captain's ship as 
a prisoner. The elaborate bows and flour- 
ishes which the polite savage made in his 
interview with Argall were sufficient indica- 
tion to the English that the French must be 
somewhere near by. The unsuspecting In- 
dian showed them the exact place where 
they were located, and Argall hastened forth- 
with to the place indicated by him, protest- 
ing loudly that those who now occupied this 
territory were pirates and usurpers, for they 

31 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

had seized the land that had been given by 
grant to the English. 

Suddenly the huge English hulk appeared 
before the eyes of the startled Frenchmen, 
and before they realized what enemy had 
attacked them, their ship was seized and 
dismantled, their goods confiscated, and the 
greater number of them taken prisoners. 

This was the first of that series of con- 
flicts between the French and English for 
supremacy in America, which was termi- 
nated nearly a century and a half later in 
the siege of Quebec. As I shall try to 
show in the last chapter of this work that 
the final disaster to the French was in 
great part due to the desire of two beautiful 
and unprincipled women for power and in- 
fluence ; so this first conquest, which proved 
a serious one through later developments, 
may be attributed to the ambition of a de- 
vout woman to found a great religious 
colony in America. For had Madame de 

32 



The Marchioness de Guercheville 

Guercheville been content to leave the two 
missionaries at Port Royal, the experience 
and diplomacy of the leaders of this impor- 
tant settlement no doubt would have found 
some solution to their temporary embar- 
rassment. As it was, Port Royal, too, was 
soon to fall before the victorious Argall. 

One of the four missionaries was killed in 
the attack on St. Savior. The other three 
were borne away through wind and tempest 
to the shores of Virginia, then Biard was 
taken on a searching expedition to point out 
the location of Port Royal. How he fared 
here will be told further on. At last the ship 
on which he was a prisoner started for France. 
On this voyage he tells how he spent days 
hiding behind some barrels in the hold of 
the ship at the Azores Islands, lest the Portu- 
guese inhabitants, stern Catholics, should 
discover him and his companions, and call 
the English to account for imprisoning men 
of their faith. At last he disembarked at 
3 33 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Pembroke in Wales, there to perform an- 
other service to the grateful English by 
saving them from being arrested as pirates, 
and to reflect great glory on his order by 
meeting and refuting all the arguments of 
the most learned ecclesiastics of the town 
against his faith. At last the two mission- 
aries reached their native shores, Father 
Biard never again to leave them, Enne- 
mond Masse to begin a new chapter of 
missionary labor in Quebec twelve years 
later. 

The indefatigable marchioness, incensed 
at the ignominious failure of her pious en- 
terprise, sent an ambassador to London to 
demand indemnity for the loss of her ships 
and reparation for the destruction of her 
colony. Only the first demand was satisfied. 



34 



Ill 

THE LADY DE LA TOUR 
A FAIR CHATELAINE OF ACADIA 

\ FTER Captain Argall had destroyed 
■^ -^ Madame de Guercheville's colony of 
St. Savior, he was ordered by the gov- 
ernor of Virginia to return to that part of 
the coast and destroy every other French 
settlement that he might find there. Ac- 
cordingly, he turned his prow towards 
Acadia, taking with him his two Jesuit 
prisoners, Biard and Masse. He declared 
that for the present they could be of more 
service to him in pointing out the location 
of Port Royal than in being hanged in 
Virginia, according to their deserts. 

Arrived at the little settlement, they found 
it deserted, for, as has been said, the colo- 

35 



Maids & Matrons of New Frajice 

nists had gone into the interior in quest of 
food. The English pillaged the houses and 
storerooms, stole the cattle, burned the build- 
ings, and then went back to their ships, 
leaving the place in a state of desolation 
and ruin. But just as they were about 
to sail away, the French returned and be- 
held with dismay the scene of destruction 
before them. There in a heap of ruins lay 
the result of seven years' toil, exposure, and 
suffering. Perceiving the two Jesuits on 
board the English ship, they saluted them 
with shouts of derision, maledictions, and 
curses, for they thought they saw in these 
two friars the authors of this disaster, be- 
lieving their perfidy had guided the English 
to Port Royal to ruin them in their absence. 
One of them even made his way to the ship 
and declared, in a private interview with 
Captain Argall, that Biard was a Spaniard, 
that he had committed the most odious 
crimes in France and had fled to Canada 

36 



The Lady de la Tour 

to escape hanging. While these anathemas' 
of the hapless Port Royalists relieved their 
feelings, they did nothing toward relieving 
their desperate situation. There was noth- 
ing to do now, defeated and penniless as 
they were, but to return to France with the 
first ship, which the greater part of them 
did, among them the Sieur de Poutrincourt 
himself. Before leaving Acadia he made 
over to his son, Charles de Biencourt, all 
his titles to the seigniory of Port Royal. 
This dauntless youth, who was so skilful a 
seaman that at nineteen years of age he 
had guided a vessel safely across the tur- 
bulent Atlantic, was not so easily to be 
driven away from Acadia, " the most beauti- 
ful earthly paradise that God hath ever 
made." His choice was shared by many of 
his youthful associates, who, though of noble 
birth and high lineage, preferred a life of 
adventure in the New World to idleness, 
stagnation, and monotony at the Court of 

37 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

France. When, after a few more years of 
this free and adventurous life, Biencourt 
died, he named as his heir one of these 
young noblemen, who had been his friend 
and the companion of his exile for many 
years. This was Charles de la Tour, Baron 
de St. Estienne. 

La Tour removed from Port Royal im- 
mediately after his friend's death in 1623, 
and erected a fort opposite the Bay of St. 
John, at a place now known as Fort Latour. 
It was strong and well built for those tim.es 
and often protected its inmates from the 
invasion of determined rivals and treacher- 
ous foes. A flourishing trade was carried 
on with the Indians, who came down the 
river St. John to dispose of their furs and 
other commodities. Into this little harbor 
came ships from France every year, bringing 
wares of all kinds and returning laden with 
valuable skins and fish. Wine was manu- 
factured from the wild grape, the forests 

38 



The Lady de la Tour 

abounded in game, and the rivers in fish, 
and all went well for some years in the 
primitive settlement. 

In the course of time its safety was 
menaced by many rivals, one of the most 
formidable of whom was La Tour's own 
father. This gentleman had been in the 
ruined settlement of Port Royal, and had 
afterward taken up his residence in Eng- 
land, sworn allegiance to King James, and 
married one of the ladies in waiting to the 
queen. As a reward for this loyalty, the 
king presented him with a baronetcy in 
Acadia. One day he appeared before Fort 
Latour in command of a great ship contain- 
ing a band of sturdy Scots, who were to 
take forcible possession of the country and 
become feudal baronets of Acadia. They 
had already given it the name Nova Scotia, 
or New Scotland, by which it has ever since 
been known. La Tour anchored his ship, 
met his son in a ceremonious conference, 

39 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

and demanded that he renounce his French 
citizenship, declare his loyalty to England, 
and deliver the fort into his hands. " If 
those who sent you on this errand think me 
capable of betraying my country even at 
the request of a parent," replied young La 
Tour, " they have greatly mistaken me. 
The King of France has confided the de- 
fence of this place to me, and I shall main- 
tain it, if attacked, to my last breath ! " A 
brisk engagement took place between the 
forces of father and son, which resulted in 
the elder La Tour's defeat. His English 
wife refused the permission accorded her 
to return to her native land and declared 
her intention of remaining with her hus- 
band, whatever his fate might be. Young 
La Tour treated his captives generously, 
building for them a substantial stone house 
at some distance from the fort, where they 
passed the rest of their lives in peace, al- 
though nominally prisoners. 

40 



The Lady de la Tour 

As time went on young La Tour found 
himself harassed by other claimants to his 
territory, who were far more tenacious than 
the Scotch baronets had been. One of these 
proved a formidable enemy who finally suc- 
ceeded in driving La Tour out of Acadia. 
This was Charles de Menou, Seigneur 
d'Aulnay de Charnisay, a Catholic knight 
who had come over to Port Royal in 1632 
in the train of another powerful lord who 
was to establish a colony there. The lands 
of Charnisay adjoined those of La Tour, 
and he contended that the latter did not own 
this territory, for he had no valid title to it. 

Their dissensions extended over a num- 
ber of years, and finally La Tour was so 
hard pressed by his enemy that he felt that 
if he did not soon receive help from the 
mother country he would be obliged to sur- 
render. He dared not go in search of it 
himself, lest in his absence his enemy might 
fall upon the unprotected place and take 

41 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

forcible possession of it. In this emergency 
he turned to one whose character had been 
formed amid the dangers, uncertainties, and 
vicissitudes of pioneer life. This was his 
wife, the Lady La Tour, whose brave deeds 
place her in the front rank of Canadian 
heroines. 

In 1625, two years after he had inherited 
the seigniory of Port Royal, Charles La Tour 
married a Huguenot girl who had come 
over to Acadia a few years before with a 
band of French colonists. This is all we 
learn of her history from the annals of the 
times. Our knowledge of her begins with 
her successful attempts to thwart the con- 
spiracies of Charnisay and ends with her 
heroic defence of Fort Latour. Her isola- 
tion in the midst of her savage surroundings 
had fostered in her a spirit of self-reliance 
and courage. When, therefore, she was 
asked by her husband to cross over to 
France and lay his troubles before their 

42 



The Lady de la Tour 

Huguenot friends, she consented willingly, 
and straightway made secret preparations 
for her departure, that Charnisay might not 
learn of her purpose. In the mean time, he 
also had determined to go to France and 
represent his claims at court. 

Nothing more is heard of Madame La 
Tour until she arrived at Rochelle, where 
she aroused her Huguenot friends and rela- 
tives to promise their aid to her husband 
in his gallant crusade against Charnisay. 
But just as she had enlisted the sympathy 
and assistance of a number of influential 
persons, she learned, to her dismay, that her 
enemy himself had made his appearance 
in France, and was even then trying to 
procure a decree for her husband's arrest 
and banishment from Acadia as a traitor. 
Hearing of her presence in France, he had 
even gone so far as to get a warrant for her 
detention on the charge of conniving against 
the king. 

43 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Without waiting for this order to be put 
into effect, Madame La Tour made her 
escape to England, which was then the 
refuge of persecuted Huguenots. Here she 
found many friends, and, besides obtaining 
material aid, succeeded in communicating 
with her husband and warning him of the 
danger he was in from Charnisay's misrepre- 
sentations at the French Court. In the 
mean time she fitted out a vessel in London 
with provisions and munitions of war, and 
prepared to depart for Acadia with the first 
favorable wind. 

While these two ambassadors in London 
and Paris were thus conspiring to overthrow 
the plans of each other, La Tour, receiving 
no further news from his wife, anxious for 
her safety and distracted by the ever impend- 
ing danger from his hated rival, at last de- 
cided to go to Boston in search of help and 
return to his fort before Charnisay had left 
France. Arriving there one day in the 

44 



The Lady de la Tour 

summer of 1644, he succeeded in getting 
admission to the presence of the governor, 
John Endicott, and laid his case before him. 
This worthy man was willing to proceed 
against Charnisay, but, after laying the mat- 
ter before the magistrates and elders, it was 
thought that interference on their part 
should not go farther than a letter of re- 
monstrance to him on the injustice of his 
conduct. Disappointed and discouraged. La 
Tour, after remaining two months in Boston, 
turned the prow of his ship homeward. By 
a series of fortunate delays he just escaped 
being captured by Charnisay, who, having 
come that far on his way home from France, 
was cruising around carelessly waiting for 
either of the returning parties, it mattered 
little whether it proved to be La Tour or his 
wife. 

Scarcely had La Tour sailed out of 
Boston harbor before a great ship, heavily 
laden and bearing many passengers, passed 

45 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

in. Among these was Roger Williams, the 
founder of Rhode Island. But the one of 
interest here was the Lady La Tour. Six 
months before this the ship had sailed from 
England bound for Fort Latour, bearing the 
cargo of goods with which she herself had 
laden it. But much time had been spent 
stopping at various ports loading and un- 
loading merchandise, and by the time they 
reached the Bay of Fundy Charnisay's ships 
were already there, and it was not possible to 
reach Fort Latour without being captured 
by him. In truth, they were hailed by 
Charnisay and asked their business in those 
waters. To this the master of the English 
ship, first taking the precaution to conceal 
Madame La Tour in the hold, replied that 
he was on his way to Boston, and after a few 
more words was allowed to proceed on his 
journey. 

Once arrived in Boston, Madame La Tour 
did not allow the remissness of the captain 

46 



The Lady de la Tour 

in taking her so far out of her way to pass 
unpunished. She demanded indemnity from 
the charter company, and, after her cause was 
tried by a special court of the principal men 
and magistrates there, she was given two 
thousand pounds for the inconvenience 
caused her by the ship's delay. When the 
verdict was obtained, she seized all the 
cargo of the ship, valued at eleven hundred 
pounds, fitted out three vessels, and again 
turned toward Fort Latour. After more 
than a year's absence she finally arrived 
there, once more nearly being captured by 
one of the enemy's ships, which was lying in 
wait for her. Thus the three envoys to three 
different countries in this Acadian feud again 
found themselves at home. Madame La 
Tour's mission had proved the most suc- 
cessful, for the indemnity she had procured 
in Boston was used to add to the fortifi- 
cations and employ more guards to defend 
them. Charnisay had accomplished little, 

47 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

for his representations at the Court of France 
were hardly strong enough to offset the 
known loyalty of La Tour. 

Several months passed away in the little 
fort at St. John without any attacks from the 
enemy. But he was none the less busy in 
his crusade against the La Tours, and was at 
this very time engaged in a movement for 
their final discomfiture. Enraged at having 
them both slip out of his hands, he had sent 
an envoy to Boston with letters to the 
governor, exonerating himself from the 
charge of persecution, and endeavoring to 
prejudice his mind against the whole race of 
La Tour. He declared them both to be 
traitors to the King of France, charging 
Madame La Tour with being of low origin 
and dissolute habits, and her husband, in 
company with Biencourt and his followers, 
with having led wild and licentious lives in 
the forests. 

Hearing of these slanders. La Tour de- 
48 



The Lady de la Tour 

termined to go to Boston, refute them, and 
bring the accuser to justice. Lady La Tour 
was left to guard the fort in his absence, 
which, thus unpr6tected, was soon beset by 
the spies of Charnisay, watching for an 
opportunity to take the heroic chatelaine 
unawares. Soon after La Tour's departure, 
as the ever watchful enemy was one day 
cruising about the coast, he was hailed by 
two of these spies who asked to be taken on 
board. They had just come from Fort 
Latour and brought the tidings that the 
master was still absent, that the force only 
amounted to fifty men, that there was 
but a little powder which was almost use- 
less, and that the fort could now easily be 
captured. 

Charnisay determined to storm the fort 
immediately and capture the fair chatelaine 
and all her retainers. Accordingly, one day 
late in this winter of 1645, anchoring his 
vessels in the harbor of St. John opposite 
4 49 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Fort Latour, he waited, expecting to see the 
flag which waved from one of the bastions 
pulled down as a sign of surrender. For, 
although the Lady La Tour's stanch spirit 
was well known to him, since it had foiled 
his attempts in the past, he thought she 
would not dare offer resistance to so formid- 
able a fleet as that which now confronted her. 
Yet the flag continued to wave from the 
tower. Opening fire on the little fort, his 
ship was straightway deluged with such a 
storm of shells that it was nearly sunk be- 
fore the eyes of the courageous chatelaine, 
who herself was directing the charge from 
one of the bastions. The fierce cannonad- 
ing continued, until, finding the ship too 
badly shattered to be of further use, and 
twenty of his men killed, Charnisay, humili- 
ated and enraged, withdrew his forces. 

In two months he returned and found 
the fort in the same defenceless condition. 
Lady La Tour's hope that her husband 

50 



The Lady de la Tour 

would arrive in the mean time with re-en- 
forcements was vain, for the enemy had 
placed ships out at sea to prevent his en- 
tering the harbor. 

This time she thrice repulsed the enemy's 
attacks, which were by land, and Charnisay 
was again compelled to draw off his forces. 
After failing in other attempts to penetrate 
into the fort, he finally succeeded in bribing 
one of the sentries, and on the fourth day 
of the siege, which was Easter Sunday, 
Charnisay and his men succeeded in scal- 
ing the walls. But before they had climbed 
down the other side, the garrison within 
rushed upon them with such force and de- 
termination that twelve of his men were 
killed and he was obliged to withdraw 
again. He then resorted to diplomacy, pro- 
posing to the Lady La Tour that, if she 
would capitulate, he would give the inmates 
of the fort life and liberty. Seeing the 
hopelessness of further resistance, the dis- 

51 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

heartened lady consented to this proposal ; 
better life and liberty for the men who had 
held out so bravely than final capture and 
certain death. 

The victor no sooner found himself in 
possession of the fort, for which he had 
been striving for years, than his real design 
became evident, — to murder the whole gar- 
rison, declare his sovereignty over all of 
Acadia, and drive the La Tours from the 
land. 

He immediately proceeded to execute this 
purpose by hanging every man except one, 
who was given his life for the privilege of 
taking that of the others. Lady La Tour 
herself narrowly escaped the same fate, for a 
halter was placed around her neck and only 
a whim of the captor spared her life. But 
the capture of the fort, the brutality of the 
victors, and uncertainty regarding the fate of 
her husband so preyed upon her already 
broken spirit that a few days later she died. 

52 



The Lady de la Tour 

The story of her defence of Fort Latour 
has been told by one of New England's 
poets,^ but not in the lofty strains of the 
poet of Evangeline, who, a century later, 
wept tears of anguish over her exile from the 
same beautiful Acadia that was the scene of 
Lady La Tour's adventures. 

" Of its sturdy defenders 
Thy lady alone 
Saw the cross-blazoned banner 
Float over St. John. 

* Let the dastard look to it ! ' 

Cried fiery Estienne. 

* Were D'Aulnay King Louis, 

I 'd firee her again ! ' 

" Alas for thy lady ! 

No service from thee 
Is needed by her 

Whom the Lord hath set free. 
Nine days in stern silence 

Her thraldom she bore, 
But the tenth morning came, 

And death opened the door ! 

1 Whittier, " St. John, 1647." See also Atlantic Monthly 
for April, 1900, " An Acadian Easter." 

53 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

" As if suddenly smitten 

La Tour staggered back. 
His hand grasped his sword-hilt, 

His forehead grew black. 
He sprang on the deck 

Of his shallop again. 
* We cruise now for vengeance ! 

Give way ! ' cried Estienne. 

" Oh, the loveliest of heavens 

Hung tenderly o'er him. 
There were waves in the sunshine 

And green isles before him ; 
But a pale hand was beckoning 

The Huguenot on ; 
And in blackness and ashes 

Behind was St. John." 

A strange fate seemed to guide the for- 
tunes of Charles La Tour, husband of this 
hapless lady. After the seizure of his fort 
by Charnisay he spent four years in exile, 
then, when he was sixty years old, hearing 
of Charnisay's death (he was drowned in the 
Penobscot River) he immediately set sail for 
France and obtained the restitution of his 

54 



The Lady de la Tour 

charters. Armed with these, he returned to 
Acadia, married Charnisay's widow, and thus 
forever settled the feuds between the two 
families, and ended this period of Acadian 
conflict. 



55 



SECOND PERIOD 

PIONEER WOMEN OF QUEBEC 

I 

DAME HEBERT 

TT7HILE many of these Acadian colo- 
' ^ nists sought, like young Biencourt 
and his companions, little in the New 
World save novelty and adventure, there 
were some of their companions who dedi- 
cated their lives to the establishment of per- 
manent settlements there. Of these the 
most conspicuous was Samuel de Champlain, 
who had been at Port Royal in two of the 
early attempts to found a colony there, and, 
in truth, had been haunting these fascinating 
shores since 1603. Once when on an expe- 
dition with another explorer he had sailed 
up the St. Lawrence as far as the present 



^ 



Samuel de Champlain. 



Dame Hebert 

city of Montreal. It was on this occasion 
that his alert eye, ever on the watch for 
places more favorable for settlement than 
those already tried, detected the wonderful 
natural advantages of the promontory jutting 
out into the St. Lawrence. In imagination 
he saw there an imposing fortress rising 
from the crest of the impregnable rock, ware- 
houses and marts of trade crowning its sum- 
mit, ships from distant ports anchored at its 
wharves, and the fertile valley of the St. 
Lawrence dotted with the thrifty homes of 
the loyal subjects of France. 

A year later, with a few hardy followers, 
he was established in this place ; and thus, 
in the year 1608, was founded Quebec, the 
first permanent settlement in Canada. We 
will turn with him to this new scene of life 
and activity, and learn something of those 
pioneer women who in succeeding years 
made this their home. 

On one of his frequent visits to the 
57 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

mother country Champlain made a strong 
appeal for a few thrifty householders to 
emigrate to the new settlement, offering 
them many flattering inducements. A num- 
ber of families yielded to his urgency and 
cast in their lot with the new colony across 
the sea. The most prominent of these was 
Louis Hebert, the man who has been already 
mentioned as having been left in charge of 
Port Royal when it was raided by Captain 
Argall. 

Gathering together his small store of drugs 
and his few household goods, he repaired 
with his wife and children to Honfleur, 
whence the ship that was to bear them to 
America was to sail. It weighed anchor 
April II, 1617. As the loved shores of 
their native land receded from view, tears 
dimmed the eyes of the patient mother, and 
the father's heart grew heavy with foreboding. 
He thought of the life of hardship and pri- 
vation that awaited them ; the long toil 

58 



Dame Hebert 

before the land could be cleared, the rude 
dwelling to be constructed, every stone of 
which was to be hewn out of the mountain 
by his own hand, the interminable winters so 
ill provided for during the short summers, 
the fierce enmity of the treacherous savages ; 
but take heart, brave pioneers ! hardship 
and suffering in truth will be yours, but also 
the reward of your long years of patient 
thrift, — an honored name in the annals of 
your adopted country. 

Their voyage across the Atlantic was long 
and stormy. Tossed about upon the huge 
waves, now poising upon their summits, now 
sinking into the trough of the sea, the little 
ship was more than once threatened with 
destruction. In the face of all this peril the 
vows and prayers of the two Recollect friars, 
whom Champlain had invited over to help 
evangelize the Indians, could avail little to 
allay the apprehensions of the fear-stricken 
company. Their terror reached its height, 

59 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

when, a few hundred leagues from the coast 
of New France, there suddenly appeared 
from out of the dense fog that enveloped 
them a huge bank of ice that was bearing 
down upon them with incredible speed. 
The memory of this wonderful sight re- 
mained ever afterward with these simple 
people, and many a time in after years the 
great iceberg was discussed as they sat about 
their blazing logs in the long winter nights 
at Quebec. Monstrous pieces were detached 
from the rest, seeming, as they floated and 
toppled about in the water, like castles, 
cathedrals, domed buildings, and even whole 
cities of crystal. These floating mountains 
closed the passage for more than ninety 
leagues; and had it not been for the good 
seamanship of the sturdy Captain Morel, 
who skilfully turned aside and coasted along 
them, the vessel would have been crushed 
into a thousand pieces. 

It was in the midst of the general con- 
60 



Dame Hebert 

sternation caused by this awful danger that 
Dame Hebert first comes to notice through 
a gentle act of maternal love. Believing 
that no human means could deliver them 
from this impending disaster, the frightened 
company again begged the friars to invoke 
the aid of Heaven by public prayers and vows. 
These devotions finished, as they were about 
to pronounce a blessing on the kneeling 
company, Dame Hebert raised her youngest 
child through the hatchway and asked that 
it too might share in this pious act. 

The voyage was so long that nearly all 
the provisions intended to be used by the 
colony already at Quebec were consumed 
on the ship. Of the abundant supplies 
expected by the hungry colonists, there was 
nothing to show but a barrel of pork and 
a few small stores which the Heberts, with 
a frugality and forethought characteristic of 
their after life in Canada, had brought out on 
their own account. These tided the settlers 

6i 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

over several anxious periods of dearth dur- 
ing the following winter. After buffeting 
for three months with the winds and waves 
of the Atlantic and the treacherous tides and 
ice of the St. Lawrence, they reached Quebec 
about the middle of June, 1617, the first 
colonists of New France who had come to 
stay. 

Though an apothecary by trade, the Sieur 
Hebert determined to devote himself to the 
cultivation of the soil. His previous experi- 
ments in this direction had proven to him 
the advantage of being a farmer in a country 
where his compatriots were engaged in ex- 
ploration, conquest, and barter. Accord- 
ingly, after two years of trial, he chose a 
spot near Champlain's fort in the Upper 
Town, where the soil was fertile, and where 
the proximity of the fort would afford a 
reasonable degree of safety from the hostile 
savages. Here he marked out his farmstead 
and built a rude but substantial home. 

62 



Dame Hebert 

This house, with its surrounding garden 
plot and cattle sheds, proved a welcome 
sight to Champlain as he made his way 
up the rocky heights. He would gladly 
have brought over more of such settlers ; 
but his efforts in this direction were con- 
tinually thwarted through the indifference 
of the mother-country, which at this time 
was engaged in commercial and religious 
contentions in which the interests of her 
colonies played but a small part. 

Some months after their arrival in Quebec, 
Anne Hebert, the eldest daughter, was mar- 
ried to a young trader named Stephen Jon- 
quest. This was the first marriage ceremony 
performed in Canada, and was two years and 
a half earlier than the first one celebrated in 
New England. Little more is said of this 
couple in the annals of the times, but 
frequent reference is made to the second 
daughter, Guillemette, after her marriage to 
Monsieur Couillard two years later. Many 

63 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

of the prominent Canadian families of to-day 
claim their descent from this worthy woman. 
Her life was identified with the principal 
events which took place in the colony for 
the next fifty years, acting as sponsor to 
innumerable Indian babies, protecting in her 
palisaded cottage the frightened settlers flee- 
ing from the tomahawks of the yelling Iro- 
quois, throwing open her home to wandering 
voyageurs and traders, and in truth playing 
the part of the thrifty, provident, hospitable 
matron in the midst of waste and improvi- 
dence. She is recalled to the chance visi- 
tor in the Quebec of to-day by "Couillard 
Street," whose crooked windings and ancient 
houses exhale memories of a historic past. 

Ten years after his arrival in the colony 
the Sieur Hebert died. His bones were laid 
in the cemetery of the Recollect friars, but 
half a century later they were taken up, still 
enclosed in their cedar cofifin, and were 
transported to a new and more imposing 

64 



Dame Hebert 

church, the first to be interred there. It 
is said that Madame Couillard, then very- 
old, had herself carried thither to witness 
the interment. 

In 1629 a serious misfortune befell the 
struggling little colony of Quebec. There 
had been a Huguenot uprising at Rochelle, 
and war had been declared by the English, 
the allies of these Huguenots, against the 
French, and, as usual, this war was carried 
into the colonies. At the head of a squadron 
of three ships, followed by six more. Sir David 
Kirke, a Protestant of Dieppe employed by 
the English, set sail for the shores of New 
France. Had he known to what a pitiful 
state the colonists of Quebec had been re- 
duced, he would not have deemed so strong 
a force needed to capture the citadel. 

During the winter previous to this Champ- 
lain had been driven to the most desperate 
measures to save from utter extinction his 
little colony, so pitifully weak even now 
5 65 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

after twenty years of existence. No pro- 
visions or ammunition had been received 
from France for two years, and the people 
had been reduced to the necessity of going 
into the forest and digging up roots for 
their sustenance. In this general lack of 
food Dame Hebert gave the half-starved 
colonists two barrels of peas, of which seven 
ounces apiece were daily doled out to them 
as long as the supply lasted. 

One July morning two little towers of 
the now dilapidated fort fell to the ground 
without any apparent cause. This presaged 
evil to the disheartened inhabitants, and 
their fears were realized a little later when 
an Indian messenger came running to 
announce that three large English ships 
had arrived at Tadoussac. The next day 
these vessels appeared before Quebec, and 
their commander called upon Champlain to 
surrender the city. Seeing the futility, with 
his few ragged and half-starved followers, 

66 



Dame Hebert 

of attempting to hold out against a foe so 
powerfully equipped, Champlain capitulated 
without a struggle, and soon, for the second 
time in the history of these western colo- 
nies, the red banner of England floated over 
the lilies of France. It was arranged that 
the French, including Champlain himself, 
the Recollect and Jesuit friars, should all be 
taken back to France in the English ships. 
But what was to be done with the few stray 
settlers, among them the widow Hebert and 
her family? 

It is said by Canadian historians that the 
coming of the English at this crisis was 
hailed with joy by the French, for patriotism 
and loyalty to the colony had been stifled by 
the pangs of hunger. Hence, when the vic- 
tors offered twenty crowns apiece to all who 
would consent to remain, Dame Hebert and 
her family accepted the offer. The well- 
built and substantial farmhouse, surrounded 
by flourishing gardens and fields of ripening 

67 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

grain, presented a more attractive picture 
than penury in the mother-country. 

Though all the inhabitants of Quebec 
looked upon this worthy family with respect 
and gratitude, there was one group in par- 
ticular who turned to them in times of 
trouble and perplexity, and it is through 
their records of this period that we glean 
the scant details of their history. These 
were the six Recollect friars, who preceded 
even the Jesuits in missionary work at 
Quebec, for Champlain's religious zeal had 
brought them over, that the Christianizing 
of the Indians might go side by side with 
colonization. These strange figures, clad in 
their loose and coarse gray gowns girt at the 
waist with a cord and having a long pointed 
hood hanging at the back, were looked upon 
with wonder and awe as they went among 
them, teaching, as best they could with the 
few Indian words at their command, the 
principles of the Christian faith. When 

68 



Dame Hebert 

they entered the comfortable Hebert cot- 
tage, they viewed with pleasure and relief the 
cleanliness and order that prevailed there, 
in comparison with the squalor, smoke, and 
filth of the Indian wigwams : here they 
found unquestioning faith, bred in the bone ; 
yonder stubborn silence or stupid acquies- 
cence. Many were the tales related here of 
dying Indian babies whom they had reached 
just in time to baptize and thus "send them 
flying to heaven," or of some stealthy and 
almost successful attack of a band of Iro- 
quois on their quarters. Dame Hebert often 
allowed the peaceful Hurons to come into 
her kitchen and warm themselves at her 
fire. But she confided to the friars that 
she never dared trust them from under her 
eyes, for they stole with their feet as well 
as with their hands. 

When it was decided that the Recollects 
were to be sent back to France, for the 
English said they would have none of these 

69 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

barefooted friars teaching their doctrines to 
the credulous savages, they submitted hum- 
bly, but were much perplexed over the fate 
of some of their protegees, in particular 
three young Indian girls to whom they had 
given the names, Faith, Hope, and Charity. 
These girls had been given to Champlain 
as hostages for two Frenchmen, one of them 
Dame Hebert's baker, who had been mur- 
dered by an enraged Indian for refusing 
his too importunate requests for bread. 
Champlain had placed these hostages under 
the charge of the friars until he could send 
them to France to have them educated. 

However, when they attempted to embark 
with Champlain, the English peremptorily 
refused to allow them to go. The entreaties 
of the friars, and the tears and pleadings of 
the girls themselves, proved of no avail, and 
they were obliged to remain in Quebec. 
Here good Dame Hebert stepped into the 
breach, and, placing her arms around the 

70 



Dame Hebert 

weeping damsels, she declared her intention 
of taking them into her own home and car- 
ing for them until the French should return. 
Then the little group remaining watched 
their banished compatriots march off to the 
ships, the officers taking with them their 
arms and baggage and all that belonged to 
them, the soldiers their arms, clothing, and 
a beaver robe apiece, and the priests their 
prayer books. Sorrowfully Dame Hebert 
and her family with their new charges re- 
turned to their home on the cliffs, gazing 
long and wistfully at the hostile ships which 
were bearing away the only friends they had 
in this distant land. 

Three years passed and still there was no 
news of the return of the French. Old 
France cared little for the re-acquisition of 
these desolate rocks, which twenty years of 
continual effort on the part of the dauntless 
Champlain had not succeeded in making 
habitable. The climate was severe, the dis- 

71 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

tance great, the outlay for fitting out expe- 
ditions excessive, and it was so vast a land 
that, should it be settled by emigration, it 
would greatly weaken the strength of the 
mother country. The king, upon being 
appealed to, contemptuously demanded what 
benefit had been derived from New France 
in the ninety years since Jacques Cartier 
had claimed it for the French crown. It 
must be, it was said, that the French were 
not adapted to founding colonies, or that the 
welfare of these colonies had been sacrificed 
to private interests. These and similar 
arguments were urged upon Champlain, and 
even his sanguine nature was somewhat 
affected by their logic. 

But in 1632 the treaty of St. Germain was 
signed, by which the English placed the 
French again in possession of the whole of 
Canada. The French, taking courage and 
casting aside the failures of the past, resolved 
to make another attempt to found a great 

72 



A General View of Quebec from Point Levy. 



Dame Hebert 

colony there. Accordingly, in April of the 
same year an expedition was fitted out and 
sent over to Quebec by the great Cardinal 
Richelieu. Two Jesuit priests accompanied 
this expedition, as the Recollects were no 
longer in favor at court. 

As they approached the rocky promontory 
of Quebec, a flag of welcome was waved to 
them from the only thrifty house in the 
place, all the others being half in ruins. It 
was Dame Hebert and her family, who were 
signalling to their approaching countrymen, 
and it was they who met them at the boat 
landing soon afterwards with tears of joy. 

The missionaries immediately repaired to 
the Hebert cottage, an event which is thus 
referred to by one of them : — 

" We went to celebrate the holy mass in the 
oldest house in this country, the house of Madame 
Hubert, who settled near the fort in the lifetime of 
her husband ; she has a fine family, one of her 
daughters being married to a respectable French- 

73 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

man here. God is continually blessing them. He 
has given them beautiful children, their cattle are 
flourishing, their land bears fine grain. This is the 
only French family settled in Canada. They were 
trying to get back to France, but learning that the 
French would soon return to Quebec, they took 
courage and resolved to stay. When they saw the 
white flags on the masts of our ships, their joy 
was indescribable ; but when they found us in their 
own house saying holy mass, which they had not 
heard for three years, God ! what joy ! tears of 
gratitude fell from their eyes. Oh, how heartily 
we all sang the Te Dewn Laudamus ! " 

After the return of their countrymen 
the daily life of the Hebert family flowed 
on peacefully, their prosperity increasing 
from year to year. Experiments in grain 
and fruit culture were made, and the soil re- 
sponded generously to their efforts. There 
was one mishap, however, which put them 
back several years. Some drunken sav- 
ages, profiting by a fresh supply of wine 
which had just arrived, killed all Dame 

74 



Dame Hebert 

Hebert's cattle and destroyed her apple- 
trees. These they pulled up by the root, the 
better to get at the fruit. They were the 
first fruit-trees planted in New France, and 
had been tended diligently by the ambitious 
Hebert, that he might prove to his kinsmen 
across the sea the possibilities of fruit-culture 
in the soil of Canada. In extenuation of 
their conduct the savages good-naturedly 
explained, when they became sober, " It is 
not we who have done this, but thy people, 
who have given us this drink." 

Dame Hebert was a mother to all the dis- 
carded Indian waifs in the country. She 
took charge also of a solitary negro boy, the 
first ever seen in Canada, who had been left 
there by the English when they evacuated 
Quebec. She once asked him if he wished 
to be baptized, so that he might be like the 
French. He answered " yes," but imme- 
diately asked if he would not be skinned 
when baptized. He had seen victims of 

75 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Indian cruelty treated thus, and was in 
terror lest the same thing might happen to 
him. He noticed that they laughed at his 
question, and so he explained, as best he 
could in his broken French, " You say that 
by baptism I shall be like you ; I am black 
and you are white, so you will have to take 
off my skin to make me like you." 

There was an Indian baby whom Dame 
Hebert had held over the font in baptism, 
giving it a euphonious French name. " I 
know not what has come over our little 
Fran9ois Olivier," said the Indian mother, 
holding the child up to its father, swaddled 
in the French fashion ; " when he is dressed 
like this, he laughs all the time, but when I 
dress him in our way, he never ceases cry- 
ing." The taciturn chief paid little heed to 
these words, but later vouchsafed the opinion 
that baptism had exorcised the evil spirits 
from young Fran9ois. 

It would be a long task to enumerate the 
76 



Dame Hebert 

number of times Dame Hebert piously acted 
as sponsor to these baptized Indian infants 
in the course of her long life in Canada, but 
it is safe to say that the greater number of 
all those who received this sacrament during 
her lifetime were held in her arms. She 
usually took them after this ceremony and 
cared for them until they died, or were taken 
away by their parents. 

The friendly Indians hovered continually 
about her house. They stood looking in 
the windows while the family were eating, 
and begged in expressive pantomime for a 
morsel from the table. When their presence 
became too irksome Dame Hebert used her 
clock as a means of getting rid of them, in a 
clever ruse devised by the missionaries and 
found to be effective when nothing else was. 
One of them describes it as follows : — 

" As to the clock, a thousand things are said 
about it. They think it is some living thing, for 
they cannot imagine how it sounds itself, and when 

77 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

they think it is going to strike they look to see if 
we are all there, and that no one is hidden behind 
it shaking it. They think it hears, especially 
when, for a joke, some young Frenchman calls 
out, just as it is on the last stroke, * That 's 
enough ! ' and then it stops. They call it the 
Captain of the day, and ask when they come to 
see us how many times the Captain has already 
spoken. They remain with us a whole hour and 
sometimes several, in order to be able to hear it 
speak. They used to ask at first what it said, and 
we told them two things that they have remem- 
bered very well. One, that when it sounded four 
o'clock in the afternoon in winter it was saying, 
' Get out ! go away, that we may close the door,' 
and immediately they arose and went out. At 
midday it said, ' Come, put on the kettle ! ' but 
this order was obeyed more reluctantly." 

Several years after the death of the Sieur 
Hebert, Dame Hebert took as a second 
husband the Sieur Hebout or Hubout, a 
well-to-do settler of Quebec. Little more is 
heard of her after this event, although we 
are led to believe that the new husband was 

78 



Dame Hebert 

as pious as his predecessor, for he figures 
prominently in baptisms and christenings. 
It is not recorded whether or not the bones 
of this Sarah were placed at her death be- 
side those of her first husband, the "Abra- 
ham of the colony," but her life remains as 
a shining monument to the self-sacrifice and 
dauntless courage of the pioneer women of 
the New World. 



79 



II 

MADAME DE CHAMPLAIN 

THE FIRST LADY OF CANADA 

/% CONTEMPORARY of Dame Hebert 
-*- ^ at Quebec for the short period of 
four years was the young wife of Samuel 
de Champlain. She was the daughter of 
the Sieur de Boulle, secretary to the king's 
chamber, and sister of one of Champlain's 
fellow-navigators. It was through his asso- 
ciation with Eustace de Boulle that Champ- 
lain became acquainted with Helen, and 
when she was but a child of twelve he 
asked her hand in marriage. A contract 
was drawn up in which it was agreed that 
her dowry of forty-five hundred francs 
should be immediately turned over to him, 
and that she should remain in the home of 

80 



Madame de Champlain 

her parents until she had attained a suit- 
able age. Meanwhile, he returned to Quebec 
with this capital, which he sorely needed to 
keep his little colony from ruin. 

In the year 1620, the same year the Pil- 
grim Mothers landed at Plymouth Rock, 
Madame de Champlain crossed the ocean 
with her husband to establish her home in 
the New World. Quebec at this time was 
at its lowest ebb. As she disembarked, 
what did this child of luxurious surround- 
ings behold? A few dirty, half-clad Indians, 
who looked at her in stupefied amazement 
that anything so beautiful had consented to 
come among them. Instead of the manorial 
estates and gallant cavaliers she had pic- 
tured in her imagination, she saw only the 
homely cottage of the Hebert family and 
the crude irregular habitation of Champlain, 
neglected and half in ruins. The cavaliers 
were a few ragged French adventurers, who 
forgot their native chivalry in their eager- 
6 81 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

ness to learn the state of their returning 
governor's purse. She took up her resi- 
dence in the dilapidated habitation, with the 
three maids she had brought with her, and 
began to face a life of exile with a husband 
thirty years her senior. 

Monsieur de Champlain, who was so 
strict and pious a Catholic that he declared 
the conquest of a continent of less moment 
than the conversion of the savages to the 
true faith, discovered soon after bringing 
his wife to Canada that she professed the 
Huguenot faith of her father. He lost no 
time in applying himself vigorously to her 
conversion. Nothing could have been more 
conducive to his purpose than the relig- 
ious observances followed out in his house- 
hold. While the family were partaking of 
breakfast, one of his attendants read aloud 
from some sacred historian, and at evening 
from the " Lives of the Saints." Public 
prayers were said frequently during the day, 

82 



Madame de Champlain 

and morning, noon, and night the Angelus 
was rung to admonish the little colony o£ 
the duty of silent prayer. 

In such an atmosphere it is not strange 
that Helen soon gave up the Huguenot 
doctrines of her family and accepted the 
Catholic faith of her husband ; in truth, his 
efforts in her behalf were more than suc- 
cessful, for she not only became an ardent 
Catholic, but resolved to become a nun. 

Meanwhile, she devoted herself assidu- 
ously to the instruction of the wandering 
Indians who gathered around her door. To 
them this beautiful creature from beyond the 
sea was something almost more than human, 
and they gladly would have worshipped her 
instead of that unseen deity in which she 
was continually urging them to believe. 
She wore dangling at her belt one of those 
chatelaines so dear to the hearts of the 
young girls of the present day. In the tiny 
mirror of this trinket they saw reflected 

83 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

their bristling hair and painted faces, and 
in awe and wonder promised all the divinity- 
asked of them in return for one look into its 
magical surface. 

At last want of the comforts and luxuries 
to which she had been accustomed so wore 
upon her health, and homesickness and 
domestic unhappiness upon her spirits, that 
Champlain resolved to take her back to 
France. They sailed August 15, 1624. 
When she once more reached her native 
land, she determined never again to leave it, 
and as soon as possible put her plan of 
becoming a nun into execution. She finally 
founded a convent and died at the age of 
fifty-six in the halo of saintship. 

Champlain returned to Quebec, where all 
his interests were centred, and which seemed 
to hold a dearer place in his heart than his 
young wife ; though to his honor be it said 
that in one of his exploring expeditions he 
discovered a small island which he named 

84 



Madame de Champlain 

after her, File de St. Helene, and which the 
people of Montreal, who use it as a pleasure 
resort, know by that name even to the 
present day. 

Ten years more of activity in New France, 
where he was ever the ruling spirit, and the 
great navigator passed away in the place 
which had been the scene of so many strug- 
gles and adventures, on Christmas Day, 
1635, unsoothed by woman's gentle minis- 
trations, but sped on his way to heaven by 
those of two missionaries. He was laid 
away in the land of his exile, but the spot 
where this Canadian pioneer was buried has 
never been authentically located. 

For many years Dame Hebert and Helen 
de Champlain were the only women pioneers 
to take up their residence in New France. 
In 1634 the surgeon Giffard and his family 
emigrated and built a substantial stone 
manor-house at Beauport, a league's distance 
from Quebec. Here a family of sons and 

85 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

daughters was reared who gave to Canada 
a numerous posterity that became dis- 
tinguished in the literary, religious, and 
political life of the community. But the 
inducements so cheerfully set forth by the 
missionary, "piety, freedom, and indepen- 
dence," were not powerful enough to attract 
other families; particularly as these advan- 
tages had to be enjoyed under the strict 
laws laid down by the zealous priests or pious 
and narrow-minded governors, who punished 
any who failed to attend mass with the 
pillory or whipping-post 

The emigration of settlers, therefore, was 
very limited for the next twenty years, and 
was confined almost wholly to single men 
who came over on missions of war, trade, 
and adventure, and to single women whose 
purpose was to Christianize the savages, 
rather than to people the country. The first 
and most conspicuous of these were Madame 
de la Peltrie and Marie Guyard. 



Ill 

MADAME DE LA PELTRIE 

FOUNDRESS OF THE FIRST GIRLS' SCHOOL 
IN CANADA 

WHILE Champlain and his sturdy band 
of pioneers at Quebec were bartering 
skins with the friendly Hurons and making 
occasional sallies against the Iroquois, the 
missionaries there were combating the bar- 
barism and superstition of these savages. 
Yet up to this time little had been accom- 
plished in this warfare, and Father Le Jeune, 
superior of the mission, realizing how futile 
had been their efforts, one day sent a plain- 
tive cry across the ocean for money and re- 
enforcements. His idea at this time was 
that if the children could be civilized and 
reared in the Christian religion, through 

87 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

their influence the parents would eventually 
become Christianized, " for in no other way," 
he declared, " can anything be made of these 
old stumps." 

He pointed out how easy it would be for 
some benevolent French lady to establish a 
school for girls, (One had already been 
established for boys, the famous Jesuit Col- 
lege of Quebec, which antedates Harvard 
College by one year.) In his letter of 1635 
he urged the need of such institutions more 
strongly than ever. " My God ! " wrote this 
zealous missionary, " if the excess and super- 
fluity of certain dames of France were em- 
ployed in this so holy work, what blessings 
would they not bring down upon their 
families ! What glory in the eyes of the 
angels to have gathered up the blood of the 
Son of God and to have applied it to these 
poor unbelievers ! " 

The greatest ladies of France read these 
letters with avidity, and a lively interest was 



Madame de la Peltrie 

excited in their hearts over the woes of the 
poor savages. Among them was Madame 
de la Peltrie, a widow of wealth and position, 
whose name has come down to posterity in 
the annals of her adopted country. Let us 
look back a little and see how it came about 
that she separated herself from home, friends, 
the pleasures of civilization, to minister to 
the aborigines of the Canadian wilderness. 

A beautiful and charming girl, with mis- 
chievous dark eyes and smiling mouth, 
reared amid all the luxury of the French 
gentlewomen of the time, was married at 
Alen9on, in the year that marked the sailing 
of the " Mayflower," to a young gentleman of 
rank, the Seigneur de la Peltrie. Five years 
later she became a widow. Young, rich, 
and pious, she began to long for some out- 
let for her energy, for some means of doing 
great good and laying up treasures for her- 
self in heaven, but at the same time to be- 
come the object of admiration and w^onder 

89 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

while she still remained on earth. Ten 
years slipped by before her desires took the 
definite form of a life of philanthropy in 
Canada, and this transpired only through a 
serious illness that befell her. 

At the crisis of the disease she is said to 
have heard the voice of the Lord saying 
to her : " It is my will that thou goest to 
Canada to labor for the salvation of Indian 
girls; thus I would be served by thee and 
receive proofs of thy fidelity ; in return I 
shall grant thee many favors in that bar- 
barous country." " Lord," replied Madame 
de la Peltrie, " it is not to me, a great sinner, 
that so great a favor should be shown." 
" True," replied the Lord, " but I wish to 
make use of thee in that country, and not- 
withstanding the obstacles that will arise to 
prevent the execution of my orders, thou 
wilt go there and there thou wilt die." This 
divine communication so encouraged her 
that she resolved to cross over to the new 

90 



Madame de la Peltrie 

colony immediately and begin the work 
thus so clearly laid out for her. 

But she soon discovered that to make so 
important a decision was far more easy than 
to put it into practice. Difficulties arose 
which she had not foreseen. The most 
formidable of these was the opposition of 
her relatives, who viewed the plans of their 
erratic young kinswoman with open dis- 
approval. Every obstacle possible was put 
in the way to prevent the fortune that would 
sometime fall to them from being squan- 
dered upon cannibals and barbarians. Her 
father begged her to defer the execution of 
her plans until after his death, but finding 
that his prayers were unheeded, he resorted 
to threats, saying that he would disinherit 
her if she persisted. 

This disapproval on the part of her rela- 
tives only strengthened Madame de la 
Peltrie's determination. Never had the 
fetters of civilization seemed so galling to 

91 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

this young enthusiast. She longed to ex- 
change the luxury and inactivity of her 
present life for the rude surroundings of a 
new country. In imagination she could see 
herself yonder a fair Lady Bountiful, ad- 
mired and loved by all who knew her, the 
idol of the simple savages, dispensing her 
wealth and good deeds so generously that, 
as the years rolled on, thousands of swarthy 
maidens would become children of civiliza- 
tion, and would revere her as their savior 
and benefactress. But in the mean time she 
was sorely perplexed how to take the first 
steps toward accomplishing this pious work 
without causing her father to become wholly 
estranged from her, — an event which would 
have put an end to it by depriving her of 
her income. Finally, she decided to avail 
herself of a suggestion that her father 
was continually urging upon her, that of 
marrying again, for he considered this the 
most effectual means of binding her to 

92 



Madame de la Peltrie 

the conventional life of women of her 
rank. 

But Madame de la Peltrie determined 
that her marriage should be one only in 
name, that she might free herself from it at 
any moment and repair to her chosen field 
of labor, at the same time satisfying her 
father, silencing the importunities of her 
other relatives, and enabling her to continue 
her arrangements secretly. She chose as 
the person best suited to aid her in carry- 
ing out this plan an old friend who was 
intrusted with the care of her property, and 
straightway wrote to him proposing a mock 
marriage. 

The chosen bridegroom was a rich and 
influential gentleman, of great piety, who 
had determined never to marry. Several 
years later he founded a mystical order or 
brotherhood which became conspicuous in 
the religious life of France. He was well 
known throughout the country, not only 

93 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

because of the high position he held, for he 
was treasurer of the kingdom, but also 
on account of his strange religious ideas. 
Imagine, then, the consternation that filled 
his breast, when he received the proposition 
from the beautiful young widow that, in 
order to free her from the legal control of 
her relatives, he should contract a marriage 
with her. To his dismay, all his friends 
and advisers unanimously declared that he 
ought to accept the offer. With consider- 
able trepidation he proposed the matter to 
Madame de la Peltries father, who, sur- 
prised and pleased that so close a friend had 
thus honored his daughter, had the lady 
summoned into his presence and immedi- 
ately made known to her Monsieur de Ber- 
nieres' offer. To his delight " the prudent 
young widow answered him with respect and 
modesty, that, as she knew Monsieur de Ber- 
nieres to be a favorite with him, she, too, 
preferred him to all others." Several weeks 

94 



Madame de la Peltrie 

after this, during which the reluctant suitor's 
scruples had almost resulted in the abandon- 
ment of the plan, they were married and 
thereafter appeared in public as man and 
wife. 

The father's death followed close upon 
this marriage, and " thus ended," says a pious 
writer, " the pretended engagement between 
this virtuous lady and gentleman, which 
caused at the time so much inquiry and ex- 
citement among the nobility of France, and 
which, after the lapse of two hundred years, 
cannot fail to excite feelings of admiration 
in the heart of every virtuous woman ! " 

But the pretence of marriage was kept up 
a little while longer, as this permitted Mon- 
sieur de Bernieres to give his supposed wife 
the help she needed in completing her 
arrangements to depart for New France. 
They journeyed together in state to Tours, 
where Madame de la Peltrie selected two 
Ursuline nuns as her assistants. Afterward 
95 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

they went to Paris, where the news of her 
wonderful project excited so much enthu- 
siasm that the queen, Anne of Austria, sum- 
moned her to an audience and expressed her 
approval of it. Others followed her example, 
and Madame de la Peltrie and her intended 
journey to Canada, as well as her strange 
marriage, were for a time the absorbing 
topics of conversation in the French capital. 
At last they hastened to Dieppe, where the 
future foundress made her final preparations 
to cross the sea. 

The party which was finally made up were 
all to play a more or less important part in 
the pioneer life of Canada. It consisted of 
Madame de la Peltrie, whose income was to 
q:o for the maintenance of a school for Indian 
girls; Mother Marie Guyard, the subject of 
the next sketch, who was to be principal or 
superior of it; Marie de St. Bernard, an 
assistant, who proved to be one of the most 
worthy pioneers in the cause of education 

96 



Madame de la Peltrie 

in Canada, although her name is scarcely 
known outside the annals of the Ursuline 
convent; Charlotte Barre, companion to 
Madame de la Peltrie; and another little 
group of women, called Hospitalieres, to 
whom a chapter will be devoted farther on. 
On the fourth of May, 1639, these seven 
women, together with several missionaries 
who were going over to re-enforce their 
brethren, embarked for the scene of their 
future labors. Monsieur de Bernieres 
saw them off, greatly relieved to find 
himself thus happily extricated from a 
situation that had promised him serious 
perplexities. 

Preceding them across the Atlantic, let 
us join the little company gathered at the 
landing-place in Quebec to meet them on 
the first day of August of the same year. 
Of the two hundred and fifty settlers, nearly 
all were present. There was the new gov- 
ernor, the Sieur de Montmagny, successor 
7 97 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

to Champlain, attended by a small retinue 
of soldiers attired in all the martial splendor 
they could muster. Near by were the mis- 
sionaries, forming, in their long black robes 
and broad-brimmed black hats, a striking 
contrast to the gayly attired soldiers. Hold- 
ing aloof stood a group of Algonquin In- 
dians, whose naked or scantily clad figures 
and painted faces indicated how futile had 
been the attempts of the missionaries at civ- 
ilizing them. Nor were women wanting in 
this gathering of Quebec citizens. Madame 
Couillard was there, with her now grown-up 
children about her, as well as the wife and 
daughters of the surgeon, Monsieur Giffard, 
and the fair Madeleine de Repentigny, 
daughter of the admiral of the French 
fleet. 

Father Le Jeune, superior of these mis- 
sions, had caused everything possible to be 
done to give Madame de la Peltrie and her 
companions a warm welcome, yet it was 

98 



Madame de la Peltrie 

with feelings of misgiving that he viewed 
their near approach. It was he who had 
been instrumental in bringing these womem 
over, yet the same question vexed the mind 
of this wary, wizen-faced, shrewd little priest 
that has troubled that of many a pastor in 
the New World since then. The funds pro- 
vided for carrying on benevolent work in 
these colonies were so small that the mis- 
sionaries themselves were frequently on the 
verge of starvation. How, then, were these 
seven delicate women to live in a country 
where there was scarcely a roof to shelter 
them, where they would have to brave the 
rigors of long and terrible winters, eat insuf- 
ficient and uncooked food, and be exposed 
to contagious diseases and the treachery of 
the savages ? Helpless creatures, who would 
only add new trials to those with which the 
colonists were already burdened. 

Meanwhile, how had they fared in their 
voyage across the Atlantic? For more 

L.oFC. 99 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

than two months they were buffeted by 
wind and storm, and many a time the 
great waves rose higher than the ship 
and threatened to engulf it. The passen- 
gers were filled with terror, and were fre- 
quently on their knees praying and making 
public vows for their safety. Once, when 
the group of timid women faced imminent 
death in the form of a huge iceberg, Marie 
Guyard, with French grace, arranged her 
draperies carefully about her, that she might 
die decently, she said. When they got as 
far as Tadoussac, they were obliged to leave 
the larger vessel, and ascend to Quebec in a 
little fishing craft, subsisting for a fortnight 
on uncooked salted codfish. 

At last, to the booming of cannon, these 
pioneers in women's charitable and educa- 
tional work in Canada stepped on shore, 
"coming forth from their floating prisons," 
said Le Jeune, gallantly, forgetting for the 
moment his gloomy misgivings, " as fresh 

lOO 



Madame de la Peltrie 

and rosy as when they left their homes, the' 
vast ocean, with its billows and tempests, not 
having harmed them in the least." In a 
transport of joy they fell upon their knees 
and kissed the soil of their new country, 
declaring themselves willing to moisten it 
with their sweat, and, if need be, to dye it 
with their blood. Headed by the pious 
governor, they went in a procession to the 
little church to thank God for their preser- 
vation. On the way thither, Madame de la 
Peltrie stopped and kissed all the little red- 
skinned maidens whom she met, not minding 
in the least whether they were dirty or not. 
The remainder of this first day in the New 
World was spent in examining the wigwams 
of the Indians, of which the filth, smoke, 
and naked or half-clad inmates would have 
daunted hearts less brave. 

That night the foundress of the seminary 
for Indian girls lay down upon her hard 
pallet of pine twigs, weary and sick at heart 

lOI 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

over the misery and degradation that con- 
fronted her. The briUiant hues with which 
her imagination had painted this scene of 
her future labors became ashen and dull. 
In her dreams naked savages pursued her 
with uplifted tomahawks, black-robed priests 
turned forbiddingly from her, and the ship 
that had brought her to these desolate 
shores appeared as a dim speck on the 
horizon, relentlessly pursuing its way back 
to France. But when she was awakened 
the next morning by the guns of the fort 
firing off the morning salute, heard the 
chapel bell calling to early service, and saw 
the brilliant August sun streaming into the 
narrow windows of her chamber, hope and 
courage awoke in her breast. Filled with 
the thought of the great work that was 
before her she arose and went forth to put 
her hand to the plough, to till this field that 
had lain fallow for centuries. 

Madame de la Peltrie's life in New 

102 



The Old French Inn 



Madame de la Peltrie 

France is inseparably associated with the 
school she founded, for it developed into the 
great Ursuline Seminary of Quebec, still 
active and flourishing after more than two 
and a half centuries. She and her compan- 
ions took up their residence in a little 
two-roomed house previously used as a 
storehouse, which they playfully called their 
palace. It was in the Lower Town, near 
what is now known as the Champlain Mar- 
ket. The French inn now occupying the 
site is old, quaint, and foreign, and the 
traveller stopping there finds little difficulty 
in carrying himself back over the long flight 
of years, and conjuring up vivid pictures of 
the landing of these gentle French ladies. 
What emotions must have filled their hearts 
at the sight of this pitiful home standing 
almost solitary amid the desolate loneliness 
of the little clearing, with its background of 
vast and impenetrable forests ! 

The first care of the new arrivals was to 
103 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

devote themselves to the study of the Indian 
languages, under the tutelage of the mis- 
sionaries, who had spent many sorrowful 
and tedious hours in this labor. But what 
it had taken them years to learn from the 
jeering and deceitful savages, who enjoyed 
nothing better than to hear them use in 
good faith the obscene and indecent words 
they had taught them, was imparted to 
these apt and eager pupils in much less 
time. 

The school began with six Indian and a 
few French girls. But soon reports of this 
wonderful institution, where girls, irrespec- 
tive of race or condition, were taken in, 
clothed in beautiful garments, and given 
plenty of food, spread throughout the neigh- 
boring country, and crowds of red-skinned 
maidens flocked thither. So many made 
their appearance that the miniature semi- 
nary could not accommodate them all, and 
soon a larger and more commodious build- 
104 



Madame de la Peltrie 

ing was erected in the Upper Town, on the 
same site the school occupies to-day. 

Madame de la Peltrie threw herself into 
the work of caring for these little savages 
with all the enthusiasm of her ardent 
French nature. She assumed the duty of 
teaching them the more polite accomplish- 
ments, while Marie Guyard and the other 
two women instructed them in the Cate- 
chism and the French language. It became 
her favorite diversion, after spending an 
hour or two in teaching them to sew, to 
dress them up like little French children, 
and take them to visit tlieir Indian parents 
or to the chapel not far distant; and gro- 
tesque-looking little objects they were, with 
tight Norman caps covering their black and 
glistening locks, and snowy kerchiefs pinned 
round their tawny throats. They regulated 
all their actions by hers, and frequently aston- 
ished those about them by making an elabo- 
rate courtesy like a grand dame of France. 

IDS 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Their devotion to godly exercises was 
praiseworthy, for one frequently stumbled 
upon them in the most unexpected places 
kneeling and piously telling their beads, 
piping out the chorus in a shrill minor key 
in the seminary choir, or cornering their 
astonished relatives and proposing to them 
the knotty questions of the Catechism. 

They became greatly attached to their 
cicerone. Her beauty, elegance of deport- 
ment, and high breeding impressed them- 
selves even upon their untutored minds, and 
they willingly left their parents to follow her. 
It was one of her duties to inculcate in them 
purity and modesty, two virtues almost un- 
known to them. They devoted themselves 
so assiduously to the cultivation of these 
virtues that, when one of their number 
would appear with her neck bare, they would 
point the finger of shame at her ; and once, 
when a man attempted to shake hands 
with little Indian Marie, she ran away in 
1 06 



Madame de la Peltrie 

terror and diligently washed the infected 
spot. 

It will be seen from these incidents how 
readily the daughters of the red men took to 
the new order of things inaugurated by this 
institution. Yet early in its history the main 
object of its establishment, the education and 
Christianizing of these girls, failed of success, 
and it was afterwards devoted principally to 
the education of the daughters of French 
settlers. The nomadic character of the 
savages, who every winter withdrew into the 
forest in search of game, taking their chil- 
dren with them, effectually prevented them 
from being benefited by the instruction they 
received there ; for what they learned during 
the summer would be forgotten or disre- 
garded amid the profligacy or coarseness of 
their winter surroundings. A few grew up 
into modest and discreet young women, 
" with nothing savage about them but their 
skins," who, having been provided with a 
107 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

little dowry by benevolent French women, 
were in time married to Frenchmen, and 
from them many Canadians of to-day claim 
their origin. 

Madame de la Peltrie's life in New France 
was one of strenuous endeavor. Aside from 
her duties in the seminary, she devoted her- 
self to the study of the Indian languages, 
and is said even to have tilled the soil with 
her own hands. After the first few years of 
her life, the historian only gives occasional 
glimpses of her, romantic and visionary 
always. One Holy Thursday, according to 
an ancient custom, in company with Made- 
leine de Repentigny, whose father, with his 
family and forty-five retainers, had settled in 
Quebec in 1636, she is seen washing the 
feet of the poor women of the colony ; while 
the governor and his staff performed the 
same office for the men. " God knows," 
exclaimed the missionary who described this 
pious act, " how affected these barbarians 
108 



Madame de la Peltrie 

were at seeing people of such quality at their 
feet ! We explained to them why we exer- 
cised this act of humility, and they were 
intelligent enough to comprehend it. But 
their pleasure was still more evident, when, 
after this ceremony, we served them a fine 
dinner." Again Madame de la Peltrie is 
pictured to us attending the midnight mass 
one Christmas and kneeling at the altar 
in the midst of forty converted Indians. 
Another time they are exchanging New 
Year's gifts, and one of the missionaries 
expresses himself well pleased with the hand- 
some prayer-book given him by this lady. 
She frequently journeyed to the neighboring 
parish of St Joseph by water, accompanied 
by some of the little Indian girls nicely clad 
in the French fashion, and was received with 
delighted wonder by the Indians, who fired 
off all their guns in her honor. 

In the year 1642, hearing of a new and 
romantic settlement about to be formed in 
109 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Montreal, of which we, too, shall hear in the 
course of this narration, she ascended thither. 
Her biographer says that she was led to take 
this step through her desire to extend her 
pious labors to the savage nations of the 
North. At Montreal her picturesque figure 
is seen accompanying a band of devotees to 
the top of Mount Ro3''al, in fulfilment of a 
vow which had saved their newly built fort 
from a threatened flood. Thirsting for still 
further adventure, she tried to accompany 
some Jesuit missionaries to the far Huron 
country, to instruct and minister to these 
distant nations. It required great diplomacy 
on the part of the missionaries to dissuade 
her from this perilous enterprise. Reluc- 
tantly she returned to Quebec and to her 
deserted sisters, whom, in her zeal for the 
newer and greater work that had called her, 
she had left in a state of destitution. 

She continued to reside at Quebec, in a 
cottage built at her expense within the semi- 
no 



Madame de la Peltrie 

nary enclosure, all the rest of her life. She 
died in 167 1, at the age of sixty-eight years, 
thirty-three of which had been passed in 
New France. She was ministered to in her 
last sickness by a young priest, Monsieur 
de Bernieres, nephew of the man who had 
played so important a part in her early 
life. 

She never separated herself from the world 
by any religious vows, although she dressed 
in a half-religious garb. But the companion 
of her exile, who had crossed the ocean with 
her and who for thirty years was her coun- 
sellor and friend, was an Ursuline nun. 
This was the distinguished woman known in 
Canadian history as Mother Marie Guyard 
of the Incarnation. 



Ill 



IV 

MOTHER MARIE GUYARD OF 
THE INCARNATION 

\ LMOST every event of Marie Guyard's 
■^ ^ life has been recorded either by her 
own pen or that of some faithful historian. 
Her letters and memoirs form the basis of 
the most valuable histories of the early days 
of Canada. They are quoted both by secu- 
lar and ecclesiastical writers, for no move- 
ment in the colony from the time of her 
arrival in 1639, whether it had to do with 
trade, exploration, politics, or religion, es- 
caped her observation or the record of her 
faithful pen. She gives her opinion of all 
the new arrivals, bishops, officers, and gov- 
ernors ; she knew the history and character- 
istics of all the neighboring Indian tribes; 
112 




U\4arie Guyard, (Mother iMaiy de ^Incarnation 



Mother Marie Guyard 

she kept watch of the public morals, helped 
the poor, reproved the indolent, cheered the 
discouraged, and was, in truth, the inspira- 
tion of the little colony for nearly thirty-five 
years. She is met with more frequently, 
perhaps, than any other woman in the stories 
of early Canadian hfe. Ecclesiastical writers 
have pronounced eloquent eulogies on her 
character; and one, the Abbe Casgrain, has 
filled three small volumes with the story of 
her life. 

Her embarkation at Dieppe and arrival in 
New France have already been sufficiently 
dwelt upon in the story of Madame de la 
Peltrie, as have also certain features of the 
new seminary. The labors of these two 
women in founding the seminary were in 
many respects identical, yet in this sketch 
of Mother Marie Guyard I find it necessary 
to dwell a little more on this institution and 
the events in the colony which affected its 
growth, in the hope that I may, through this 
8 113 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

medium, reflect her character. Her skilful 
management and strong executive ability 
brought the struggling institution through 
many perils to which the gentler and less 
aggressive nature of Madame de la Peltrie 
would have succumbed. And although no 
special acts of bravery or heroism are related 
of her, she was the centre from which ema- 
nated the very life of the colony, the general 
on whom the whole success of the campaign 
depended. 

Despite many trials and disappointments 
in the first year of her residence in New 
France, her letters to the mother country 
were so full of enthusiasm that those who 
had not been permitted to accompany her 
were again fired with a zeal to share the 
labors of their sisters in the New World. 
The result was that two more women came 
over in the spring to re-enforce them. 
Their arrival made it evident that the present 
quarters of the seminary were too restricted, 
114 



Mother Marie Guyard 

and in the spring of 1641 the first stone of a 
new one was laid. It was hardly well under 
way before they were all thrown into a state 
of consternation and dismay over the unex- 
pected departure of the foundress for Mont- 
real. She not only took with her her ser- 
vants, but her furniture as well. Nor was 
this all. There was reason to believe that, 
if she decided to reside there permanently, 
she would also withdraw her financial aid 
from the seminary at Quebec. In these 
straits Mother Marie bethought herself of 
the expedient of beginning an extended cor- 
respondence with individuals in France, to 
induce them to contribute to the building of 
this school. She entered into the work with 
enthusiasm, and the first year is said to have 
written over six hundred letters. Thus she 
obtained funds to supply their more pressing 
needs. 

After an absence of a year, as has been 
already said, Madame de la Peltrie returned 
IIS 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

to Quebec, never again to desert her pro- 
tegees and dependants. The new seminary 
was finished and dedicated amid great rejoic- 
ing, and the future income of the institution 
was placed upon an assured basis. Other 
women were sent from France to share the 
burdens of their sisters, bringing with them 
ample stores and many little conveniences 
which greatly lightened the hardships of this 
life in the forest. To be sure, the new 
building, which seemed to them so commo- 
dious, was contracted enough at the best, for 
it was only ninety-two feet long and twenty- 
eight feet wide. They had to move into it 
before it was half finished and passed the 
entire winter (that of 1643) with no ceiling 
but the rafters ; the fireplaces smoked and 
gave out little heat, although two hundred 
cords of wood were consumed in them. But 
these seemed trivial in comparison with the 
trials they already had suffered. 

In the year 1649 a band of four or five 
116 



Mother Marie Guyard 

hundred Huron Indians, the remnant of 
those once populous tribes, crushed, pur- 
sued, and almost annihilated by the suc- 
cessive onslaughts of the terrible Iroquois", 
finally deserted their ruined villages many 
hundred leagues to the north and took 
refuge among their saviors and friends, the 
French of Quebec. The history of the 
colony from this time on for nearly thirty 
years is little else than the history of the 
treacherous ambushes and attacks of the 
Iroquois, whose hatred was concentrated on 
these French for their friendliness to the 
Hurons. They appeared everywhere, prowl- 
ing along rivers, skulking in forests, en- 
deavoring to cut off food supplies, and 
suddenly descending upon isolated settle- 
ments and massacring all the inhabitants. 
To protect Quebec from their murderous 
attacks. Monsieur d'Ailleboust, the gov- 
ernor, had palisaded forts erected in the 
more settled parts where the defenceless in- 
117 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

habitants could take refuge at the first alarm. 
The settlers themselves, day as well as night, 
never went abroad without a gun or hatchet. 
Yet despite these precautions, there were 
many terrible massacres throughout the 
country, and many a white man's scalp 
was carried dangling to the belts of the 
victorious enemy. 

Yet Quebec took a firm foothold at this 
time and grew and prospered. " We think 
we are on tlie brink of a terrible precipice," 
writes Mother Marie to her son in France, 
" when we suddenly find ourselves on a sure 
footing. We hear about some catastrophe 
to be expected from the Iroquois, yet at 
the same time our settlers go on marrying, 
building, multiplying, clearing the land, and 
tilling the soil." There is a picture of her 
about this time hanging on the walls of the 
present seminary at Quebec. She sits at 
the foot of an ash-tree and catechises her 
little Indian pupils. These stand about in 
ii8 



Mother Marie Guyard 

exemplary attitudes of respectful attention, 
and seem to be responding with some un- 
certainty to the doctrinal questions proposed 
ta them. This historic tree, the last of all 
its companions, was destroyed by a tempest 
in 1867. "What sentiments of joy and 
satisfaction must have welled up in her 
soul," exclaims her biographer, " as she sat 
there casting her eyes about on all that sur- 
rounded her ! Finally beholding the entire 
fulfilment of all her desires; this savage 
country open to her ministrations, these 
cherished pupils, and above all this beau- 
tiful school arising from the bosom of the 
forest ! " 

But one night's disaster changed this 
peaceful contentment into perplexity and 
distress, and swept away in less than an 
hour the result of many years of labor and 
sacrifice. 

Toward midnight of December 29, 1650, 
there suddenly rose upon the still night air 
119 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

the cry of " Fire ! fire ! " Then there was 
a vision of women running hither and 
thither, to the belfry to ring the great bell 
and summon aid, to the well to get water, 
to the rescue of the little Indians. But their 
efforts to extinguish the fire and save the 
seminary were in vain, and the only satis- 
faction they had when it was over, was that 
they had all escaped with their lives. Mother 
Guyard, by endangering her life and resorting 
to the most hazardous expedients, finally be- 
ing compelled to escape through the belfry, 
succeeded in saving some of the valuable 
manuscripts of the seminary and a few 
articles of clothing. 

The Huron tribes living in the vicinity 
were among the first to show their sympathy 
in this misfortune. Having nothing left of 
all their possessions but two wampum belts 
of twelve hundred beads each, they offered 
Mother Marie and her associates these with 
the following address by the chief : — 
1 20 



Mother Marie Guyard 

" Holy sisters, you see before you poor skele- 
tons, the remnants of a nation which once flour- 
ished, but is now no more. In the Huron country 
we were devoured and gnawed even to our bones 
by famine and war. These skeletons could not 
stand up were it not for you. You learned 
through letters to what extremities we were re- 
duced, but now you can see it with your own 
eyes. Look at us, and see if we have not enough 
to make us weep over ourselves, and to shed 
ceaseless torrents of tears. Alas ! this sad mis- 
fortune which has overtaken you renews our 
own troubles, and again causes the tears to flow 
which had begun to be dried up. Must fire, then, 
follow us wherever we go? Let us weep, let us 
weep, my dear countrymen, yea, weep over our 
miseries, especially those we have in common with 
these innocent virgins. Behold yourselves reduced, 
holy sisters, to the same miseries as your poor 
Hurons, for whom you felt such compassion. Be- 
hold yourselves without a country, without a 
home, without food, and without succor, save 
from Heaven, which never loses you from sight. 

" To strengthen your courage, here is a present 
of twelve hundred beads of porcelain, which will 
sink your feet so far down into the soil of this 

121 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

land that neither love of kindred nor of country 
will be able to draw them out of it. The second 
present that we pray you to accept is a similar 
necklace of twelve hundred beads of porcelain, to 
lay anew the foundation of your building, where 
you will continue to instruct our little Huron girls. 
Such are our vows, such also are yours, for you 
could not die content, if, dying, you were to 
reproach yourselves that for a too tender love of 
kindred, you had not aided in the salvation of so 
many souls. Yea, you will gather them together 
again, you will teach them to love God, and they 
will one day be your crown in heaven." ^ 

This eloquent address of the Huron chief 
was responded to by Mother Marie Guyard, 
who assured him that she and her sisters 
would continue to instruct their children, 
that no disaster, however serious, would ever 
send them back to France, and that, having 
spent their lives in this land of Canada, one 

1 This entire address, of which the above is only an ex- 
tract, may be found in the yesuit Relations of 165 1. It is a 
curious fact that the descendants of this tribe may be seen 
to-day in the little village of Lorette near Quebec, still bask- 
ing in the friendship and protection of the French Canadians. 

122 



Mother Marie Guyard 

day their bones would all repose there 
together. 

The Hospitalieres gave the homeless sem- 
inary women shelter for three weeks, after 
which they removed with their pupils to 
the newly built house of Madame de la Pel- 
trie. Here they found themselves in almost 
as narrow quarters as they were when they 
first arrived in Canada. They were with- 
out even the bare necessities of life, and 
the ships bringing the usual supplies were 
not due from France for several months. 
All the inhabitants of the town, however, 
rallied to their help. The missionaries pre- 
sented them with cloth they had in reserve 
for their gowns, the governor supplied them 
almost entirely with food, and even the poor 
Indians brought their offerings : one a piece 
of linen, another an old cloak, another a 
fowl or a few eggs, — in truth, almost any- 
thing that could be spared. 

The prospect of rebuilding the school was 
123 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

a dark one, but the heart of the woman at 
the head of it was not cast down. Seeing 
no other hope of more commodious quarters, 
and having no money to hire laborers, she 
herself, followed by her associates, set to 
work to clear away the debris and begin 
the excavation for a new building. Slowly 
arose the new edifice, and a year passed 
before it was ready for occupancy. It was 
dedicated in May, 1652. 

About this time the whole colony was 
thrown into a state of apprehension through 
a threatened attack of the Iroquois. It was 
reported that twelve hundred of them were 
on the war-path and were hastening down to 
Quebec on both banks of the St. Lawrence. 
This news was brought to the people while 
they were assembled in the chapel of the 
new seminary, celebrating a church holiday. 
No sooner was it received than they decided 
to convert the seminary into a fort, and the 
women were straightway ordered to abandon 
124 



Mother Marie Guyard 

it and take refuge in the house of the 
missionaries, where many of the inhabitants 
also resorted for protection, while others 
sought safety in the old fort. Mother Marie 
remained in the seminary with three of her 
assistants, furnishing munitions to the sol- 
diers, preparing their food, and keeping an 
eye on the preservation of the building. 
Besides the twenty-four men who sur- 
rounded it, it was protected by a guard 
more redoubtable to the foe, twelve enor- 
mous bloodhounds which could scent the 
redskins with unerring fidelity. At the 
slightest alarm they would jump to their 
feet, and with bristling hair and flaming 
eyes eagerly sniff the air and utter low 
growls as a signal of danger. 

The siege, which lasted five months, can- 
not be described in detail here. At last 
two Huron prisoners, who had miraculously 
escaped from the hands of the enemy, 
brought the news of the brave attack of 
125 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Dollard, a young hero of Montreal, for this 
city had also been besieged, and the suc- 
cessful rout of the defeated foe. 

Then another cloud loomed up in the 
horizon of the colony, compared with which 
the enmity of the Iroquois, who continued at 
intervals to harass the French settlers, was 
only a shadow. It is pictured in darker 
colors by the religious historians of the 
times, who attribute to it all the disasters 
which followed for the next five years. 

In 1 66 1 there came to Quebec as governor 
a sturdy old soldier, the Baron Dubois 
d'Avaugour. He wrote to the government 
at home a few emphatic letters, badly spelled 
and scantily worded, about the chaotic con- 
dition of the colony, indirectly and covertly 
attributing the failure of many enterprises to 
the religious party in Quebec. He ignored 
this element from the very beginning of his 
administration. On his arrival there, instead 
of going to the little chapel and performing 
126 



Mother Marie Guyard 

his devotions, or standing sponsor to some 
newly baptized Indian, as the other govern- 
ors had done, he proceeded straightway up 
the ramparts to examine into the condition 
of the fort. 

Soon after his arrival a woman was found 
guilty of selling brandy to an Indian, an act 
which was strictly against the law, but which 
was surreptitiously indulged in by many of the 
colonists. One of the missionaries attempted 
to intercede for her with the governor, ask- 
ing that the usual severe sentence for this 
offence be commuted, on the plea that she 
was a woman. This attempt at condon- 
ing a violation of the law so enraged the 
doughty governor that, in a spirit of retalia- 
tion, he nullified all previous prohibitions 
and licensed a free sale of liquor throughout 
the colony. 

This step proved to be a disastrous one, 
for the Indians, savage and treacherous 
enough when sober, became raging demons 
127 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

when intoxicated. It was no sooner put 
into execution than the colony was thrown 
into indescribable confusion. The Indian 
women as well as the men drank freely and 
ran about naked, brandishing their swords 
and other weapons, and driving everybody 
before them. Day and night they haunted 
the public places of Quebec, no one daring 
to oppose them. Murders, acts of violence, 
monstrous and unheard of brutalities, were 
the results of this unlimited supply of fire- 
water. 

" I have told you in another letter," wrote 
Mother Marie to her son, " about a cross 
that is far harder to bear than the incursions 
of the Iroquois. There are in this country 
certain Frenchmen, so despicable and so 
little touched by the fear of God that they 
are ruining all our new Christians by giving 
them strong drink, such as wine and brandy, 
to get their beaver skins from them." The 
same sentiment is expressed by a letter of 
128 



Mother Marie Guyard 

one of the missionaries to a friend in France. 
" My ink is not black enough," he said, " to 
paint these misfortunes in their true colors. 
One would have to have the gall of a dragon 
to set down here the bitterness we have ex- 
perienced from this terrible evil. It is all 
told when I say that we are losing in one 
month the sweat and labor of twenty years." 

But no threats or prayers would avail with 
the obstinate governor, and the evil was 
allowed to take its course, leaving the in- 
habitants of the little colony in constant 
apprehension from the tomahawks of the 
drunken savages, and the missionaries in 
despair as to the ultimate destination of 
their souls. 

And as though these earthly troubles were 
not enough, the minds of the simple colonists 
began to be disturbed about this time by the 
appearance of strange phenomena in the 
heavens. These were the forerunners of 
the great earthquake of 1663. As the shocks 
9 129 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

became more frequent, they began to think 
the end of the world had come. Women 
fainted, men fell with their faces to the 
earth, beating their breasts in despair, or 
raising their hands to heaven and imploring 
the mercy of God, believing every instant 
that the earth was about to open and swallow 
them up. Many ran to the churches and 
threw themselves before the altars, often 
spending the whole night there. So great 
was the general consternation that one of 
the missionaries, as he naively related 
to Mother Marie afterwards, during one 
of these nights heard no less than six 
hundred confessions. 

These convulsions of nature continued 
for seven months and resulted in important 
changes in the surface of the country. 
Mountains disappeared, and others were 
suddenly raised up. Whole forests were 
thrown down or engulfed in lakes opened 
up in one day. A new island arose in the 
130 



Mother Marie Guyard 

St. Lawrence, and the courses of several 
rivers were turned. 

It was said that the only one of all the 
colonists who remained calm and imper- 
turbable during this awesome period was 
Mother Marie of the Incarnation. " She 
alone remained firm and secure," says her 
biographer, " with an abandon and presence 
of mind capable of exciting the admiration 
of the angels themselves." When the ter- 
rible and awe-inspiring phenomena began to 
subside she attributed it piously to the fact 
that the savages were becoming penitent. 
Whether the change in them was due to 
their superstitious fear of all strange phe- 
nomena in nature, or to the fact that they 
could no longer procure fire-water, cannot 
be stated, but it was very evident that they 
in truth had become sober and reasonable. 
Through the instigation of the clerical 
power a new governor had been appointed 
to supersede D'Avaugour, and restrictions 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

were again placed upon the sale of liquor 
to the Indians. Canada at this time be- 
came a royal province, and the new viceroy- 
brought thither in 1665 that military body 
known in Canadian history as the Carignan 
regiment, not only to protect the people 
from the savages and to enforce the laws 
in the colony, but also to people the 
country. 

The object of these philanthropic French 
women in crossing the ocean and taking up 
their residence on the desolate heights of 
Quebec, was, as has been said, to educate 
Indian girls, convert them to the Christian 
faith, and then send them out as civilizing 
factors among their fellow-savages. The 
failure of this mission has already been 
shown in the life of Madame de la Peltrie. 
The Indian girls came to their school ; they 
were docile and intelligent, took delight in 
imitating the gentle manners and courtesies 
of their benefactresses. But they still re- 
132 



Mother Marie Guyard 

mained savages, and no sooner found them- 
selves among their own kindred again than 
they resumed all their savage customs, and 
in a short time had forgotten or discarded 
those principles of civilization which had 
been instilled into them with such labor. 

Mother Marie Guyard had not been long 
in New France before she realized the futil- 
ity of their efforts. " It is easier for a 
Frenchman to become a savage," she says, 
" than for a savage to adopt the customs of 
civilized nations." She acknowledged, thirty 
years after the opening of the seminary, that 
out of the great number of Indian girls 
instructed in it not more than a hundred 
had remained constant. 

But the school did not want for pupils. 
There were the daughters of the colony to 
be educated, poor as well as rich. The 
former, however lowly their condition, were 
obliged to go at least a few months of the 
year; while many of the daughters of the 
133 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

well-to-do traders and government officers 
were placed in the seminary at the early age 
of six and remained there until they were 
fifteen or sixteen. And to-day a magnificent 
pile of buildings erected on the same spot as 
that chosen by Mother Marie in 1641 stands 
as a lasting monument to her courage and 
perseverance. She became an invalid in the 
latter part of her life, and much of her time 
was passed in painting and embroidery, for 
which she is said to have had an exquisite 
taste, as well as for the arts of sculpture and 
architecture. She was teacher and inter- 
preter of the Indian languages, and in her 
later years compiled two immense diction- 
aries of the Algonquin tongue, as well as a 
translation of the Catechism and the Scrip- 
tures into Algonquin. She died on the 
30th of April, 1672. 

Before leaving these two women in the 
background of Quebec's earliest pioneer 
days, let us turn our footsteps for a mo- 
134 



Ursuline Convent, 



Mother Marie Guyard 

ment to the scene of their labors. Among 
the historic edifices of the old city none is 
of greater interest than the seminary on 
Parloir Street. It is a long, irregular pile 
of buildings, extending over several acres 
on one of the most beautiful sites of the 
Upper Town. Mother Marie Guyard's 
twentieth-century successor in this now 
famous institution, a delicate little lady of 
more than fourscore years,, meets the visitor 
at the small iron grating and talks pleas- 
antly of the many interesting features of the 
place. The picture is shown wherein is 
represented, in harsh outlines and lurid 
colors, the original seminary with Madame 
de la Peltrie's house in the foreground, 
while in the dense forest in the rear is 
conspicuous the hoary ash under which 
Mother Marie sat and taught the daughters 
of the red-skins Christianity and civiliza- 
tion. The historic events of later times 
are also commemorated here, for in the 
135 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

chapel of this seminary lie the bones of 
General Montcalm, his skull, for greater 
security, being kept in the apartments of 
the chaplain. 

Let us cast our eyes over the seminary 
garden, visible from the windows of our 
hotel. Every known vegetable seems to 
be growing there, — not only growing, but 
luxuriating, and promising many a savory 
potage for the gentle ladies' winter dinners. 
One parterre is devoted to flowers, gorgeous 
midsummer blossoms, hollyhocks, sunflowers, 
asters, dahlias, phlox, and geraniums. In a 
small rustic bovver sit several black-robed 
sisters, telling their beads or engaged in 
meditation. Are their thoughts flitting 
back, perchance, over the long lapse of 
years to the primitive beginnings of the 
institution ? Do they see, in their imagi- 
nation, those fair lilies of France transplanted 
here and shedding their beauty and fra- 
grance over the primeval growths of the 
136 



Mother Marie Guyard 

forest ? The gray silence within the stone 
walls answers not, and with a sigh at the 
forgetfulness and ingratitude of posterity we 
turn away to other curious landmarks in 
the quaint old city. 



137 



SOME DAINTY NURSES OF 
LONG AGO 

I HAVE spoken of other women who 
came to New France in the ship that 
brou8:ht Madame de la Peltrie and Marie 
Guyard. These were three hospital nurses 
sent by a wealthy lady of France, the 
Duchesse d'Aiguillon, niece and heiress of 
Cardinal Richelieu. 

Left a widow when very young, and sati- 
ated with the frivolous life of the Court, 
for she, too, was lady-in-waiting to Queen 
Marie de Medicis, she resolved to devote 
herself to works of benevolence. The letters 
of Le Jeune had fallen into her hands also, 
for they had found their way into the 
boudoirs of princesses, and were passed from 
hand to hand at Court until they were fairly 
138 



Some Dainty Nurses of Long Ago 

worn out with using. After perusing that 
one of 1635 with absorbing interest, she 
resolved to establish a hospital in New 
France which should be open alike to In- 
dians and French, rich and poor, young and 
old. This was the now well-known Hotel- 
Dieu of Quebec, the first hospital in Canada. 
It was founded by this generous lady in 
1639 and was maintained at her expense for 
thirty-five years. 

The vicissitudes, changes, trials, and pro- 
gress of this institution are in many respects 
similar to those of the seminary, and it is 
therefore needless to give a detailed account 
of them here. 

Hardly had it been inaugurated in an old 
store-room of the Fur Company, when an 
epidemic which caused great havoc in the 
colony broke out among the Indians of the 
surrounding country and struck down hun- 
dreds in its fearful ravages. Here was the 
opportunity for the imported nurses to 
139 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

gather in the sick and dying and show 
the superiority of scientific treatment of dis- 
ease over the simple herb medicines of the 
Indians ; but instead of establishing this fact, 
the experiment proved a disastrous failure. 
Nearly all the patients died, and the hospital 
came to be looked upon with horror by the 
red men, who gave it the name of the " House 
of Death." The air of the narrow rooms 
into which the sick were crowded like cattle 
was so impregnated with foulness, the medi- 
cines were so little adapted to the needs of 
these children of the air and forests, the re- 
sources were so limited, that the wonder is 
the nurses did not give up the attempt in 
despair and return to France by the first 
ship. But their courage was dauntless, and 
they persevered until a time when better 
success awaited them. 

Not long after their arrival they saw the 
necessity of changing their white habits for 
a color more obscure, as in the rough labor 
140 



Some Dainty Nurses of Long Ago 

they were obliged to perform in their daily 
association with the savages, the gowns soon 
became soiled and unseemly. It was a mat- 
ter of such importance that they decided to 
seek the advice of their friends, the Jesuit 
friars. It is curious to observe the brotherly, 
not to say motherly interest these mission- 
aries took in the welfare of their country- 
women, whose unprotected condition in the 
midst of barbarians appealed to their innate 
chivalry. However, it may be said in pass- 
ing that there is no record of anything on 
the part of the Indian men towards these 
French gentlewomen except the most chiv- 
alrous acts of kindness ; after they had 
ceased wondering why they had not brought 
their " men " with them over the sea, they 
gave them the name of the " holy sisters " 
and accepted their ministrations with grati- 
tude and reverence. 

The missionaries and nuns lived on 
friendly terms with one another, the latter 
141 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

looking up to the former as their confessors 
and spiritual advisers, yet not infrequently 
indulging in a little gentle raillery at their 
expense. Sometimes they would refer de- 
murely to the elegance of the missionaries' 
gowns, patched with pieces of leather, scraps 
of old blankets, etc., and at other times listen 
with pretended horror to the subterfuges 
they described as necessary in the conver- 
sion of the savages, such as dosing them 
with sweetened water in lieu of medicine, 
and occasionally dropping it upon the brow 
of a dying child to baptize it, or surrepti- 
tiously making the sign of the cross over it 
while pretending to feel its pulse. 

Upon being consulted by the nurses as to 
the advisability of changing the color of their 
habits, the friars gave it as their unanimous 
opinion that another color, gray or black, 
should be adopted, as they had observed that 
the white habit, however clean and attractive in 
the morning, inevitably became soiled before 
142 



Some Dainty Nurses of Long Ago 

the day was ended ; nor was it well for the 
women to spend much time at the wash-tub. 
The nurses rebelled a little against this 
advice, and did not follow it immediately ; 
for there was no material for new gar- 
ments, and it was long before the ships from 
France would bring them the yearly sup- 
plies. Again the solicitude of the friars 
urged them on, suggesting a dye of walnut 
bark which would make the cloth the re- 
quired color, and could be procured in the 
neighboring forest. The solution was made, 
the women sorrowfully plunged their gar- 
ments into it, and they came out the desir- 
able mud color. It was with rueful faces and 
many a little shrug of disgust that they saw 
themselves clad in these chimney sweeps' 
clothes, as they called them. For although 
these gentle ladies were ready to sacrifice all 
the other refinements of civilized life to the 
barbarians, they could not give up their 
cherished costume without protests. In a 
143 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

few years, when they had removed to more 
commodious quarters, and when they were 
able to hire servants to perform the menial 
duties of the institution, they resumed the 
white habit. 

Occasionally, recruits would be sent over 
from France to share their labors. These 
were so filled with enthusiasm over their 
great vocation that they were not dismayed 
by the disillusions that met them almost 
before they set foot upon the soil of the 
New World, but accepted them heroically 
and without complaint. But there was one 
young girl whom homesickness and despair 
so completely overpowered that she eventu- 
ally had to be sent back to France. This 
was Marie Irwin, a French refugee, who 
belonged to a noble family of Scotland. 

Her origin was traced back to no less 

illustrious a person than Mary, Queen of 

Scots. Young and inexperienced, she had 

not formed a just idea of the hard and prac- 

144 



Some Dainty Nurses of Long Ago 

tical life led by pioneers in a new country. 
When she found herself shut up in an iso- 
lated building (for the first few years of its 
existence the hospital was at Sillery, several 
miles from Quebec), with nothing else to 
look out upon but the black wall of the inter- 
minable forest, the majestic river with naked 
savages stealing silently along its banks, no 
other recreation than prayers and catechism 
and the homely and oft repugnant duties of 
the hospital, no other visits than the rare 
ones of black-robed priests and hideously 
painted barbarians, her heart was filled with 
despair. Her companions tried in vain to 
distract her by lively conversation and long 
walks ; she wanted but one thing, and that 
was to return to France. 

Her wish was gratified, and in the spring 
of 1643 she again found herself in her native 
land. But she was not there long before 
she began to sigh for the life she had just 

abandoned. Once more she crossed the sea 
10 145 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

to Quebec and took up her work in the 
hospital, where she became one of the most 
efficient workers. She died in the land of 
her exile at an advanced age. 

Catherine Chevalier was an obscure maiden 
who had followed the nurses to Canada, 
declaring meekly that she would be content 
if, after ten years of trial, she should be 
received in the institution as an assistant. 
But her excessive zeal deranged her reason. 
It is related that every time her duties 
called her into the yard and she met one 
of the chickens, she looked into the simple 
creature's eyes and asked it if it loved 
God. Receiving no reply, the frightened 
fowl would be chased round and round by 
the frantic girl, bent on killing it, for she 
declared that any living creature that did 
not love God deserved to die Her reason 
was finally restored, and she also became a 
useful worker in the hospital. 

There was in these early days a wealthy 
146 



Some Dainty Nurses of Long Aga 

lady of Quebec, also associated with the 
founding of Montreal, of whom the colony- 
preserves a grateful memory. This was 
Madame d'Ailleboust, who came over to 
New France in 1643 with her husband, who 
became its third governor. She was one of 
the patronesses and most earnest workers of 
the hospital. It is said she shed such gentle 
tears of humility and repentance that they 
did not even redden her eyes. She became 
Wind, but some miracle soon restored her 
vision. Such were her aspirations to martyr- 
dom that for months she allowed herself to 
be tormented by a fractious maid to cultivate 
a befitting humility and patience. She often 
had visions in which the body became trans- 
parent, and she could see the hearts of 
sainted persons whom she knew. When 
she died she willed to the hospital all her 
property, which made it independent for 
some time to come, for her possessions were 
great both in New France and in Old. 
147 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

In 1665, twenty-six years after the founda- 
tion of the hospital, the nurses were called 
upon to minister to many of the soldiers of 
the Carignan regiment, whose arrival in 
Quebec was to inaugurate an era of pros- 
perity and comparative safety for the colo- 
nists. These men brought with them an 
infectious disease, and the hospital was 
obliged to receive over a hundred of them 
in one day. The nurses not only devoted 
themselves to the care of their patients' 
bodies, but also looked sedulously after the 
welfare of their souls. The Huguenots, who 
were quite numerous among these soldiers, 
gave them especial concern. To see them 
die without abjuring their faith was one of 
the greatest trials these women were called 
upon to endure. But there is related one 
case in which they were spared this trial, 
for the erring Huguenot, through a shrewd 
device of one of the nurses, was led to 
accept the faith of the country. 
148 



Some Dainty Nurses of Long Ago 

If the tourist of to-day who visits the 
Hotel-Dieu at Quebec be granted the rare 
privilege of seeing the relics of the martyrs, 
Breboeuf and Lalemant, who were burned at 
the stake by the Iroquois, he may perchance 
recall this miracle of long ago. Unknown to 
the soldier, who had declared he would die 
before he would give up his religion, the 
nurse mixed a pulverized bit of one of 
Brebceuf's bones in the medicine, with the 
gentle admonition to drink it to the dregs. 
Hardly had the refractory patient swallowed 
the potion than a miracle ensued. He 
became as gentle as a lamb, and asked to be 
instructed in the new faith, soon afterwards 
publicly abjured his own, and not only, says 
the historian, gained the health of his soul, 
but recovered that of his body. 

Many instances of the civilizing influences 

of the hospital nurses among the savages of 

the surrounding country might be related, 

but I have already dwelt long enough on 

149 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

these pioneer philanthropists of Quebec. 
Before leaving the historic Hotel-Dieu, let 
us view yonder portrait of the Duchess 
d'Aiguillon, its foundress. There sits, with 
her hand resting upon a table, the figure of 
a beautiful woman. It is clad in a tight- 
fitting, low-necked bodice and scant skirt of 
a rich and beautifully tinted texture. From 
a graceful head-dress looks out upon us 
benignantly a noble, intelligent face, full of 
purpose and determination. Near by, on 
the same wall, is the portrait of her uncle, 
Cardinal Richelieu. There are many other 
time-stained canvases in this and other 
rooms of the hospital, but we can tarry no 
longer to examine them, for the sails are 
spread and the gentle breeze lures us on- 
ward to the great city of Jacques Cartier's 
dreams. Here there is another group of 
women equally as worthy our attention and 
interest as those of Quebec. 



150 



Duchesse d 'Aiguillon. 



THIRD PERIOD 

MAIDS OF MONTREAL 

I 
THE FOUNDING OF MONTREAL 

^ I ^HE traveller who visits Montreal for 
-■- the first time, and who has read the 
absorbing story of its founding, feels that he 
is treading on consecrated ground. From 
the summit of the sloping mountain, a 
mount royal indeed, he looks down upon 
the great metropolis with its stone towers 
pointing skyward, its sumptuous public 
buildings, its innumerable commemorative 
monuments, its busy streets and stately 
churches. As he comes down the eastern 
slope of the mountain, he will see a spacious 
pile of stone buildings surmounted by a 
151 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

great dome. This is the historic Hotel- 
Dieu. Let him pass through the gateway, 
up the broad flight of steps, and into the 
long corridor. 

Facing him as he enters the door is a por- 
trait of the foundress, Jeanne Mance. The 
face is long and delicate, with fine and 
regular features, clear, large dark eyes, long 
straight nose, curly hair escaping from the 
closely fitting cap, and a dimpled chin. A 
short, scant cape is pinned around the 
shoulders, and the face, looking downward, 
has a pensive expression that reminds the 
spectator of the famous Cenci portrait in 
the Barberini Palace at Rome. 

The story of this pioneer woman's life, 
with that of others who will be mentioned, 
is the story of the founding of Montreal. 
Let us follow their fortunes for awhile, ac- 
cepting their divine inspirations unquestion- 
ingly, as they did, that we may give them 
our sympathy in their struggles to establish 
152 



The Founding of Montreal 

a Christian commonwealth in the midst of a 
savage infected forest. 

A Sulpician priest of Paris, Monsieur 
Olier, and a prosperous tax-gatherer of 
Anjou, Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere, 
were the first to conceive the idea of found- 
ing the great city now known as Montreal. 
These two individuals, living in different 
parts of the country, were separately in- 
spired, at about the same time, to establish 
a religious colony in New France. They 
met one day at Meudon, near Paris, as if 
by a miracle, ecstatically embraced like old 
friends, called each other by name and took 
a walk in the forest near by to communicate 
the details of their visions and to suggest 
plans for their fulfilment. 

The natural advantages of the place 
chosen for the settlement, as shown by one 
of Champlain's old charts, were dwelt upon 
largely. It was situated at the junction of 
two great rivers, the Ottawa and the St. 
153 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Lawrence, down both of which the Indians 
to be converted through their ministrations 
brought furs to the trading posts. This 
place was also the most frontier post in all 
Canada, and the one most exposed to attacks 
from the hostile Iroquois. But this feature 
was passed over lightly by the two enthu- 
siasts, for their visions did not include a 
handful of defenceless settlers suffering un- 
speakable tortures at the hands of their 
savage captors ; of almost daily penitential 
processions to the top of the mountain to 
ask for succor; of vows and offerings and 
castigations to invite the favor of Heaven ; 
of their shrieking countrywomen suffering 
nameless horrors from the hideous redskins, 
or being reduced to the last extremities 
through cold, hunger, and exposure ; of the 
jealousy and strife of those high in office. 
But had their prophetic visions made known 
to them these direful trials, which had to be 
endured by the Montreal colony in the first 
154 



The Founding of Montreal 

thirty years of its existence, it would, I think, 
have made little difference in the founders' 
plans ; for there was a comfortable phrase 
bandied about in those days to the effect 
that the blood of martyrs is the seed of 
the church. The two devotees, sauntering 
through the woods that afternoon, dwelt 
long and pleasantly on their mutual in- 
spirations, and concluded the interview by 
regretting that they, too, could not take 
part in this pious pilgrimage, but, like 
Moses, must view the promised land from 
afar. 

A company was soon formed in France, 
composed of forty-five devout men and 
women, to be the patrons of the colony, 
which was to be consecrated to the Holy 
Family and to be called Ville Marie de 
Montreal. To act as its governor and as 
the representative of the association, a Chris- 
tian knight and soldier was selected, Paul 
de Chomedy, the Sieur de Maisonneuve, 
155 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

who, in the same miraculous manner in 
which all concerned in this enterprise ap- 
pear, steps forth " with a sword in one hand 
and a psalter in the other" and makes 
known his willingness to assume the posi- 
tion of chief of the colony. 

In the spring of 1641 Maisonneuve and 
a small group of strong and courageous men 
gathered at Rochelle to sail for New France. 
But on the very eve of their departure they 
perceived that they needed an important 
addition to the company, — a need which all 
their money could not supply. This was a 
prudent and intelligent woman, of a courage 
equal to all emergencies and a strong will, 
who would follow them into the country to 
take care of their goods and of their vari- 
ous furnitures, and at the same time would 
serve as nurse to the sick and wounded. 
Already, unknown to them, this necessity 
had been provided for. 

At this time Jeanne Mance, daughter of 
156 



The Founding of Montreal 

an honorable merchant of Nogent-le-Roi, 
was thirty-five years old. Her father, whose 
closing years she had attended with a filial 
solicitude, had been dead a year, and she 
was now casting about to see by what 
means she could put into execution her 
determination, taken long since, to cross 
over to New France and to engage in the 
good work of a pioneer, whatever form it 
might assume. She had not heard of the 
new colony of Montreal, but one of Le 
Jeune's letters had found its way into her 
hands, and she, like other devout ladies of 
France, was fired with ambition to minister 
in some way to these New World barba- 
rians. It would take too long to describe 
in detail the events which led up to her final 
success in carrying out her determination. 
The most efficient instrument in the under- 
taking was a rich and pious widow, Madame 
Bullion, who, on condition that her name be 
kept secret, gave liberally for the founda- 
157 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

tion of a hospital, of which Mademoiselle 
Mance was to be directress. 

After a tedious voyage across the Atlan- 
tic the new company arrived at Quebec in 
August, 1 64 1. The lateness of the season 
caused them to abandon the hope of reach- 
ing Montreal that year, and they were 
obliged to spend the winter at Quebec. 
They proved to be both unexpected and 
unwelcome guests to the Quebec colony. 
The coldness of this Canadian winter hardly 
equalled that which gradually sprang up 
between the two rival governors, Mont- 
magny of Quebec and Maisonneuve of the 
new colony. The older colony acted with 
jealousy and envy towards this new, well- 
fitted-out and moneyed company. One of 
the Quebec missionaries wrote in his journal 
of 1 64 1 that the Montreal associates would 
not get to their destination that year, adding 
piously, "and God grant that the Iroquois 
do not prevent their getting there next!" 
158 



The Founding of Montreal 

Maisonneuve was constantly besought by 
the chief men of Quebec to abandon the 
expedition, the difficulties of it being de- 
picted in grewsome colors, and to remain at 
Quebec, or form a new settlement on the 
Island of Orleans near by. At last the 
exasperated Maisonneuve exclaimed, " Gen- 
tlemen, I have not come here to parley, but 
to act. It is my duty and my honor to form 
a colony at Montreal, and I would go if 
every tree were an Iroquois ! " 

And go he did. On the 8th of May, 
1642, he and his companions, with the un- 
expected addition of Madame de la Peltrie, 
with her servant and her furniture, started 
with a flat-bottomed sail-boat and two row- 
boats up the beautiful St. Lawrence River. 
There was a background of green trees, 
spring flowers were blooming, and brilliant 
song-birds were filling the air with melody. 
Ten days later they sprang ashore, and 
joined their songs with those of the happy 
159 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

birds. Darkness came on, an altar was 
erected, festoons of glittering fireflies were 
hung upon it by the graceful Madame de la 
Peltrie and her companions, and the priest 
raised his hand in blessing. " You are a 
grain of mustard seed," said he, " that shall 
rise and grow until its branches overshadow 
the earth. You are few, but your work is 
the work of God. His smile is on you, and 
your children shall fill the land." Such was 
the auspicious beginning of Montreal. 

The life of the new-born colony went on 
peacefully for a period, the first serious mis- 
fortune that threatened it being the over- 
flow of the St. Lawrence in the following 
December. The people were powerless to 
protect the settlement from the threatened 
flood, and in their despair resorted to prayer. 
The governor, taking a cross in his hand, 
advanced towards the approaching waters 
and in a solemn voice made a vow to place 
a cross on the summit of the mountain if the 
i6o 



The First Mass at Montreal. 



The Founding of Montreal 

flood would spare the town. But on came 
the surging, tumultuous waters, on to the 
very edge of the powder magazine, then 
paused as if stayed by the power of that 
upraised cross, turned and sullenly receded. 
The town was saved, and in pursuance of 
his vow Maisonneuve at once proceeded to 
plant the cross on the top of the mountain. 
A path was cleared, and with suitable cere- 
monies a procession started to make the 
ascent up the gentle slope, Maisonneuve 
carrying the heavy cross on his shoulders. 
At last the top was gained, a religious cere- 
mony was performed in which Jeanne Mance 
and the few other women of the colony 
devoutly took part, and the great cross was 
planted, the first ever placed on Mount 
Royal. 

As month followed month and idyllic peace 
prevailed in the little settlement. Mademoi- 
selle Mance saw no patients and no pros- 
pect of any. Accordingly, she wrote to 
II i6i 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

her benefactress for permission to give the 
money intended for the endowment of the 
hospital to some needy Huron missions. 
Her request was met with a peremptory 
refusal. The word came back that the 
money must be used for a hospital and 
nothing else. 

One day, through the treachery of some 
Huron fugitives, a band of wandering Iro- 
quois was led to the Montreal settlement. 
They slipped stealthily up to the very gates 
of the fortifications, and seized six unsuspect- 
ing French settlers, who were hewing wood 
near the fort. Three of the men were killed 
outright, the others led away in triumph. 
One of the number afterwards escaped to 
the fort and related to the horrified inmates 
the harrowing story of the tortures and 
sufferings of his companions. 

Soon after this an industrious young 
colonist, Monsieur Mercier, and his wife, 
Catherine, were working in their field near 
162 



The Founding of Montreal 

the fort when they were suddenly surrounded 
by six or eight Iroquois, who massacred the 
husband in a horrible manner and added his 
scalp to those of some Hurons they had 
recently despatched. Catherine's cries of 
distress brought three armed Frenchmen to 
her rescue, but, as the latter were about to 
carry her to safety, they suddenly found 
themselves attacked by forty more Iroquois 
who had been hiding in the forest. Seeing 
the impossibility of rescuing the woman, they 
rushed back through the gates of the fort 
and closed them just in time to prevent its 
being invested by the savages. Mademoi- 
selle Mance, a horrified spectator of this scene, 
joined her shrieks to those of her unfortunate 
countrywoman, for she realized that nothing 
could be done to save her from the fate that 
awaited her. She was, in fact, burned to 
death by these barbarians after they had 
tortured her in various ways. The colonists 
could hear her appeals for help and the piti- 
163 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

ful prayers uttered by her in the midst of her 
sufferings. Helpless as they were, they could 
only weep with her and wish her a speedy 
relief. 

From this day Montreal was never with- 
out apprehensions from the Iroquois, a dan- 
ger which was met with increased piety. 
Each house was placed under the protection 
of some saint, and the head of the family, 
with all the members of his household 
around him, at a certain hour every morn- 
ing recited a fervent prayer for protection 
against the enemy. Many, too, were the 
individual petitions sent up to heaven by 
the terrified people. Each new arrival at 
the settlement seemed to outdo the others 
in pious practices, and if prayers alone 
would avail, the future of Montreal was safe. 
But many years of desolation and suffering 
still confronted it. 



164 



II 

THE WORK OF JEANNE MANCE 
AND MARGUERITE BOURGEOIS 

TT7ITH the Iroquois swarming to this 
^ ' point from all directions, Jeanne 
Mance did not dare to delay longer the 
building of the hospital. It was completed 
and ready for occupancy within the year 
1644. Its object, as stated by the ^'un- 
known " benefactress herself, who by this 
time had succeeded in becoming very well 
known, was " to nourish, treat, and cure the 
poor sick people of the country and to have 
them instructed in the things necessary to 
their salvation." 

These imposing buildings made a deep 
impression upon the friendly savages of the 
neighborhood. It was more than ever evi- 
16S 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

dent to them that their only safety from 
their hereditary foes, the Iroquois, lay in 
obtaining the good-will of these powerful 
palefaces, and thus find shelter with them 
in time of danger; although the pious 
writers of the day attribute this sudden at- 
tachment to their desire to be baptized and 
embrace the faith. 

The conversion of one haughty chief par- 
ticularly is recorded with much enthusiasm. 
Tessbuat, or Le Borgne, as he was called by 
the French, came walking over the ice of 
the St. Lawrence one winter day and 
asked Maisonneuve to receive him at Mont- 
real and to have him baptized, threatening 
that if they hesitated about granting this 
request, he would have the Black Robes of 
the Huron Mission baptize him. He was 
turned over to the good graces of Made- 
moiselle Mance, who could now speak the 
Huron tongue fluently, and she immediately 
proceeded to instruct him in the doctrines 
i66 



The Work of yeanne Mance 

of the Christian faith. When he was suffi- 
ciently familiar with the new creed, he was 
baptized, and soon became a model of piety 
to the others, spending whole nights preach- 
ing to his fellow-warriors the benefits of the 
Christian religion. He was married the 
day after his baptism, and was given a gun, 
some land, and two men to help him culti- 
vate it. " Thus," says Jeanne Mance's biog- 
rapher, in speaking of her share in this great 
event, " was the part of Clotilda, Ildegonda, 
and Radegonda in the conversion of her 
own native France recalled to the heart of 
the devoted young woman." 

In the year 1643 ^^^ important addition to 
the colony was Monsieur Louis d'Ailleboust, 
afterwards Governor of New France, accom- 
panied by his wife, who has been already 
referred to among the women of Quebec, 
and by his sister-in-law, Mademoiselle Philip- 
pine de Boullongne, both of whom proved 
of invaluable assistance to Jeanne Mance in 
167 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

her work. They brought encouraging news 
from the Montreal associates in France, but 
also were intrusted with the peremptory 
command from the " unknown benefactress " 
to let nothing interfere with the work of the 
hospital. 

Mademoiselle Philippine quickly worked 
her way into the hearts, not only of the 
French, but also of the friendly Indians. 
She soon learned to speak their language, 
and so completely won their confidence that 
she was once asked by an Indian maiden 
and her lover, to her embarrassment and 
confusion, to take the place of the absent 
priest and marry them in the presence of 
the whole settlement. Another time she 
was told by a burly chief that, much as he 
loved his tobacco and his squaw, he would 
willingly give them both up if she would 
consent to baptize him. 

The Iroquois, since their discovery of the 
little colony, kept closing it in an ever nar- 
i68 



The Work of Jeanne Mance 

rowing circle. They had been supplied with 
firearms by the Dutch of New York and 
were eager to try them on the hated pale- 
faces. The colonists had all been obliged to 
take refuge in the fort, whence they were 
afraid to venture out except in squads, well 
armed and protected by the faithful dogs 
brought over from France for this purpose. 
There was one in particular, named Pilot, 
which, with her little brood, saved Montreal 
from many unexpected attacks and massa- 
cres. She could scent the Iroquois a long 
distance, and taught her family to accom- 
pany her into the forest to search for red- 
skins, biting them fiercely if they hesitated ; 
or if a timid puppy, frightened at the moving 
shadows of the great forest, would sneak 
back to the fort, it would receive the same 
punishment on Pilot's return. 

One March day in 1644, Pilot and the 
puppies came rushing into the fort, all bark- 
ing furiously, telling the colonists as plainly 
169 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

as they could that the enemy was nigh. The 
soldiers, crowding about Maisonneuve, whom 
they had chided for being too slow in attack- 
ing the enemy, asked him if they were never 
to have a chance to fight. He replied that 
he would lead them in an attack, and they 
could thus show if they were as brave as they 
would fain appear. Maisonneuve and thirty 
of his soldiers sallied forth, and proceeded 
some distance from the fort, preceded by the 
dogs; but they had followed these guides 
too closely, for instead of surprising the 
enemy, it was the enemy who surprised 
them. 

Suddenly finding themselves surrounded 
by about eighty yelling savages, they began 
to retreat, although holding back the Indians 
by a continuous shower of bullets. Soon 
their ammunition was exhausted, and they 
turned about suddenly and fled precipitately 
to the fort, leaving Maisonneuve alone to 
face the enemy. With a pistol in each hand 
170 



Figure of Jeanne OAance 



The IVork of yeanne Mance 

he kept the savages back, all the time re- 
treating toward the fort. Finally, as the 
Indian chief rushed forward to grasp him, for 
they wished to take him alive, Maisonneuve 
raised his pistol and shot him through the 
heart. Dismayed by this calamity, the loyal 
barbarians turned from the panting Maison- 
neuve and rushed to carry away the body of 
their chief. Maisonneuve ran back to the 
fort in safety, and his brave defence was ever 
afterwards celebrated in the annals of Mont- 
real. There is now in the Place d'Armes, 
the supposed spot where it took place, a 
statue of Maisonneuve surrounded by those 
of other heroic pioneers of Montreal, includ- 
ing Jeanne Mance. 

It was seen from this incident, and others 
of the same character that followed, how 
much danger was incurred by the helpless 
settlement. Mademoiselle Mance devised a 
new expedient. Almost frightened at her 
own temerity, she went to Maisonneuve and 
171 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

suggested that he go over to France and 
raise a company of soldiers to protect Mont- 
real, offering him twenty thousand francs 
which had been given her by Madame 
Bullion to carry out this plan. " The hos- 
pital above all " was the watchword of this 
pious lady, but without a colony there could 
be no occasion for a hospital, and if the Iro- 
quois incursions were not soon checked there 
would be no colony. In lieu of the money 
she asked and was given a large tract of land 
which, with soldiers and settlers brought over 
to cultivate and protect it, she reasoned 
would produce a better income than the 
money at interest. Thus fortified, Maison- 
neuve departed for France and was absent 
from Montreal for nearly two years. 

In the mean time there was another fierce 
attack of the Iroquois, in which the settlers 
made a brave defence inspired by a valiant 
French soldier, Major Closse. Yet every vic- 
tory left them weaker and less able to resist. 
172 



The Work of Jeanne Mance 

Mademoiselle Mance's hospital was found to 
be quite inadequate for all the wounded and 
dying that were brought into it. She had 
recourse again to her benefactress, who 
promptly sent her more funds; also com- 
plete furniture for the hospital and chapel, 
including carpets, mattresses, kitchen uten- 
sils, and above all, two oxen, three cows, and 
twenty sheep ; so that they could henceforth 
have milk and wo©l, of which they had here- 
tofore been sadly in need for their patients. 
All the domestic animals, except the horse, 
had now been introduced into New France. 
The horse was not brought over until 1663, 
and when the savages saw it for the first 
time they expressed great admiration for 
the " Frenchman's moose." 

Jeanne Mance's life soon became identi- 
fied with the vital interests of the colony, 
and all that one woman could do to draw 
order out of confusion, health out of sick- 
ness, happiness and tranquillity out of de- 
173 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

spair, and civilization out of barbarism, she 
did. No discouragement daunted her. Fre- 
quent returns were made to the mother- 
country to bring new recruits and to raise 
funds wherewith to keep the colony from 
ruin. Madame Bullion continued her bene- 
factions, finally making a gift of twenty 
thousand francs, the interest of which was 
to form the income of the hospital. This 
Mademoiselle Mance placed in the hands of 
Jerome de la Dauversiere, who promised to 
invest it profitably and thus materially to 
increase their capital. 

Let us go back a few years in imagination 
and visit the little village of Troyes in the 
province of Champagne. The Dominicans 
are celebrating the feast of the Holy Rosary, 
and Marguerite Bourgeois, a young woman 
of twenty, is walking in the procession with 
many of her friends and kinspeople. As the 
procession passes the church of Notre Dame, 
she glances at the statue of the Virgin, 
174 



The Work of Marguerite Bourgeois 

which stands on a pedestal within the 
church. Behold ! it is shining brightly, and 
the face seems almost lifelike in its beauty. 
Her friends also glanced at the statue, but 
they saw nothing supernatural about it. If 
it looked brighter and fairer to them than 
on other days, they attributed the fact to 
the glowing October sun and the brilliant 
autumn tints that made all things resplend- 
ent with color and light. 

But Marguerite was joining in a holy 
church ceremony, and her mind was attuned 
to mystic things. When she saw the Virgin 
beaming brightly in the glowing sunlight, 
she immediately considered it a call to de- 
vote herself to a life of good deeds. This 
field was soon opened up to her in the 
Canadian wilds, for, as we have seen, the 
conversion and education of the savages of 
New France was now agitating the Euro- 
pean pulse. To baptize Indian babies, be 
tortured by big Indian braves, and then 
175 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

ascend to heaven in a halo of blazing torches 
and painted savages was to woo saintship in- 
deed. This fever came to Marguerite, as it 
did to other women already mentioned in 
these pages, and when the opportunity pre- 
sented itself it was seized with avidity. 

Monsieur Maisonneuve, while recruiting 
his company of soldiers in France, happened 
to pay a visit to his two sisters at Troyes. 
Here he was informed of Marguerite's desire 
to go to Canada. He gave her a letter to 
one of his friends at Nantes, a rich merchant 
whom he called Monsieur Coq, who was to 
furnish her transportation to Canada, and 
give her instructions. Disposing of her in- 
heritance in favor of her brothers and sisters, 
she started for Nantes. Every step of her 
journey was beset with trials. She travelled 
alone with no luggage but her little bundle 
of linen, and, being thus friendless and poor, 
was treated as an adventuress by her travel- 
ling companions. At the inn at Orleans she 
176 



The Work of Marguerite Bourgeois 

was even refused shelter for the night and 
was obliged to accept the doubtful kindness 
of the coachman when he offered her his 
room. And it proved doubtful indeed, for 
she was obliged to barricade the door to 
prevent intrusion from him and his dissolute 
companions. In the morning early she stole 
away to resume her journey. She secured 
passage on a boat on the Loire which made 
a stop of a few days at Saumur, where she 
was again humiliated by being refused hos- 
pitality at a hostelry. But a kindly Samari- 
tan took her in and kept her until the boat 
was ready to proceed on its journey. 

Arrived at Nantes, she sought the mer- 
chant to whom Maisonneuve had recom- 
mended her. But her search was in vain, 
for no one had ever heard of such a person, 
as he was really known by the name of Mon- 
sieur de Bassoniers. Marguerite, weary and 
discouraged, with her little bundle of linen 

under her arm, travelled all day about the 

12 177 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

streets of the strange city, inquiring for 
"Monsieur Coq, Monsieur Coq." At last, 
despairing and almost exhausted, she ap- 
proached a big burly man and timidly asked 
him if he knew where such a gentleman 
lived. " Monsieur Coq — why, I am Mon- 
sieur Coq ! And if I mistake not, you are 
the lady Monsieur Maisonneuve wrote me 
about a few days ago," and he cheerfully 
gave her his address and sent her to his 
house. 

But if Monsieur Coq knew who she was, 
Madame Coq did not, and the latter was 
extremely indignant at her husband- for 
sending her this strange young woman to 
entertain. " I will positively receive no such 
people into my house," she said, " you must 
depart forthwith ! " And exhausted and 
almost fainting as she was, Marguerite 
turned and walked away. After wandering 
around awhile longer, she determined to 
appeal to Madame Coq again. And as 
178 



The JVork of Marguerite Bourgeois 

that lady was standing on the steps refus- 
ing her entrance and lecturing her on the 
impropriety of travelling about alone as she 
did, the lady's husband appeared. Explana- 
tions followed, and Marguerite was after- 
wards hospitably entertained during the 
three weeks she remained in Nantes until 
the departure of Monsieur Maisonneuve, 
whom she was to accompany to Canada. 
Their ship sailed in July and reached 
Quebec, September 22, 1653. 

When she whom Parkraan has eulogized 
as the " fair ideal of Christian womanhood, 
a flower of earth expanding in the rays of 
heaven," arrived in Canada, Montreal con- 
tained but about fifty houses. Maisonneuve 
had been absent two years ; and when he re- 
turned with his hundred picked soldiers, the 
colonists were in a state of despair, fearing 
they would not be able to hold out a day 
longer against the ever-increasing forces of 
the enemy. In addition to his company of 
179 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

soldiers, Maisonneuve brought another gift 
of money from the benefactress, which was 
utilized in fortifying the town. It was after- 
wards acknowledged by those versed in the 
affairs of Canada, that this money, given at 
such a critical time, saved Montreal, and, in 
truth, all of New France, from certain ruin. 

When Marguerite began her work, there 
were only two children to benefit by her in- 
struction, for all the others who had been 
born in the colony in the first ten years of 
its existence had succumbed to the rigors 
of the climate. However, fourteen mar- 
riages took place soon after her arrival, 
and there was soon a mission for her as a 
teacher of children. A close bond of friend- 
ship united her and the other " mother of 
Montreal," and these two women thereafter 
shared together the toils and privations of 
their pioneer life. 

After Marguerite had been in Montreal 
four years, the number of her pupils in- 
i8o 



'fi\0MM&^.:£':---^- 



m »i|iww , re»Kfe-ife.i 



"Marguerite de Bourgeoys 



bWi^vAs&i 



The Work of Marguerite Bourgeois 

creased so greatly that it was a loss of time 
to go about from house to house to teach 
them, and she conceived the idea of building 
a church and having her pupils gather there, 
that she might teach them all together. Was 
ever ambition more vaulting ? Here was a 
woman without other possessions than the 
clothes she wore, inspired with the desire 
to build a church ! She went to Maison- 
neuve and modestly stated her wishes. He 
generously gave her a tract of land, the only 
commodity that was not scarce in the New 
World. After many tedious and vexatious 
delays, the most serious of which came from 
an officious bishop, who had come to Mont- 
real to build a school for boys and had 
never heard of the little woman who was 
teaching the girls, Marguerite at last suc- 
ceeded in her undertaking. This edifice, 
called " Notre Dame de Bonsecours," was the 
first stone church erected in Montreal. It 
was destroyed by fire in 1754, but upon the 
181 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

same spot was erected another which is now 
visited by tourists as one of the landmarks 
of the old city. It is a worthy monument 
to the inspired labors of one of Canada's 
pioneer women. 



182 



Ill 

JUDITH DE BRESOLES AND 
HER COMPANIONS 

TT 7HILE Jeanne Mance and Marguerite 
^ ^ Bourgeois were carrying on their 
labors in Montreal, other young women were 
being educated at a school at La Fleche, in 
France, under the supervision of Monsieur 
Dauversiere, to lend them a helping hand. 
Early in 1659 the two "mothers of Mont- 
real " revisited France, each for the purpose 
of seeking recruits for her particular work. 
Three of the young women at Dauversiere 's 
school had already been selected to accom- 
pany Jeanne Mance back to Canada. They 
were Catherine Mace, daughter of a rich 
merchant. Mademoiselle Maillet, and Judith 
de Bresoles, who had been in this school for 
183 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

seven years, studying chemistry and medi- 
cine. Marguerite Bourgeois too succeeded 
in getting three young teachers for her 
school in Montreal. Besides these, there 
was a small company of young women, the 
"king's girls," for whom Marguerite was to 
find husbands in New France. 

The departure of the three girls from the 
school at La Fleche did not take place 
without serious difficulty. A widespread 
prejudice had arisen against the erratic 
Dauversiere, who, with a family of sons 
and daughters at home, had taken it into 
his head to establish this school for young 
women. It was reported that he had stolen 
girls from the surrounding country and had 
either immured them in this institution for 
some mysterious purpose, or had sent them 
over to Canada to be sold as slaves. When 
it was learned that three of them were really 
about to depart for that distant country, the 
villagers were aroused, and many of them 
184 



yudith de Bresoles and Companions 

sat up all night and watched the building 
to see that none of its inmates issued from 
the gates. The next morning a company 
of soldiers protected the departure of Dau- 
versiere and his protegees, and with their 
gleaming swords awed into acquiescence the 
belligerent rustics, who, in truth, were greatly 
intimidated by this show of authority and 
attempted no further resistance. 

Judith de Bresoles was the leading spirit 
of this little company of recruits. She be- 
longed to a noble family of Blois, who sur- 
rounded her with all the advantages that 
wealth and position can secure. It is said 
that while her sister was diverting herself 
with the joys of childhood, playing with dolls 
and building block houses, little Judith was 
going about from house to house consoling 
and nursing the poor and teaching their 
children. When only fifteen years old she 
was capable of composing the most wonder- 
ful remedies, of mixing medicines and dress- 
185 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

ing wounds ; the lancet of the surgeon had 
no terrors for her, and she could assist in the 
bleeding of a patient or the cutting off of a 
limb with equal fortitude. About this time 
she announced to her parents her intention 
of devoting her life to nursing the sick. 
When the philanthropic propensities of the 
delicately nurtured young girl began to 
assume this dangerous form, she was per- 
emptorily commanded to renounce all these 
pursuits and to give her attention to the 
pastimes of her age and sex. Her prayers 
availed not to move her obdurate parents, 
and finally, with the aid of an old ser- 
vant, she ran away from home and entered 
Dauversiere's school. Her brother-in-law 
was one day visiting a hospital when he 
suddenly came upon the missing girl, who 
had heretofore eluded the search of her 
anxious relatives. She was entreated by 
them to return home, but turned a deaf ear 
to all their supplications. Seeing that further 
1 86 



An East View of Montreal. 



yudith de Bresoles and Companions 

resistance on their part would prove futile, 
they finally gave their reluctant consent to 
her plan of going to Montreal. 

Finally, the party for Canada completed, 
they all met at Rochelle to take ship. There 
was Marguerite Bourgeois, her three young 
women teachers, and her group of "king's 
girls," Jeanne Mance and the trio of girls 
from La Fleche, two Sulpician priests, and 
one hundred and ten colonists who were to 
settle at Montreal, besides two girls who 
were accompanying Mademoiselle Mance as 
servants in the hospital. But just as they 
were about to embark, the captain of the 
ship intervened and refused them passage. 
An ecclesiastic of Quebec, jealous of the 
growing importance of Montreal, had whis- 
pered into the captain's ear that this am- 
bitious band of young women could not pay 
their passage across the sea. It was true 
that, after several months' delay in the 
mother country, their expenses had made 
187 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

serious havoc with their funds, and they now 
found themselves in a state of destitution 
that would have daunted less courageous 
souls. Jeanne Mance finally induced the 
shipmaster to take her and her companions 
on trust, giving as security the note of an 
honest merchant of Rochelle. Marguerite 
Bourgeois and her young women were 
equally as fortunate, for at the last moment 
a large sum of money was found sewed into 
the bodice of one of them, Mademoiselle 
Raisin, whose father had had the money 
placed there in lieu of the income the young 
girl was renouncing in leaving her native 
land. This magnanimous parent also gener- 
ously offered to guarantee the fare of the 
other demoiselles. Saint Peter, too, was in- 
strumental in the happy outcome of this 
affair, for it was on his day that the captain 
finally yielded to their entreaties. 

On the 2d of July, 1659, the day of their 
departure, Dauversiere appeared among them 



Judith de Bresoles and Companions 

for the last time, for he was then suffering 
from a mortal disease, and proceeded to 
give them his final instructions and bless- 
ings. Mademoiselle Maillet, who acted as 
treasurer of Jeanne Mance's company, took 
this opportunity to ask him where she 
should apply for the interest of the twenty 
thousand francs, the " unknown's " latest 
gift, which had been placed in his hands for 
investment. A cloud passed over the brow 
of the pious gentleman, but he immediately 
regained his composure, and replied "with 
an assurance that could only come from 
heaven," "God will provide it, my child," 
and continued his conversation on the good- 
ness of Divine Providence, assuring them 
that the Lord would watch over and protect 
them. A few months later he died of the 
gout, the second of the three founders of 
Montreal to pass away, the only one now 
living being Maisonneuve, the governor. 
The journey across the Atlantic proved to 
189 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

be the most terrible ordeal that any of these 
pioneer women had ever had to pass through. 
The old ship, although designated enthu- 
siastically by one of the Sulpicians " the 
cradle of the Holy Family," proved rather to 
be the cradle of all human misery. It had 
been a floating hospital, and was, therefore, 
a veritable home of infectious diseases. 
Mademoiselle Mance became very ill, and it 
was feared she would not live to see her 
exile home again. In addition to the ravages 
of the disease, she suffered intense agony 
from a crippled arm. She had broken it by 
a fall on the ice of the St. Lawrence, and as 
it had been wrongly set by the clumsy sur- 
geon of Montreal, in this last visit to France 
she had had it treated by the best surgeons 
of Paris. No benefit resulted from this 
treatment; and in despair, while one day 
visiting the tomb of Monsieur Oher, one of 
the defunct founders of Montreal, she beheld 
a seraphic vision of this gentleman, and as 
190 



yudith de B resoles and Companions 

instantaneously came the inspiration to ask 
this vision to restore to her the use of her 
paralyzed arm. She was given the box that 
contained Olier's heart, and placing it upon 
the withered arm, she immediately felt a 
warm glow thrill through it to the very 
finger-tips. Her hand regained its strength, 
and she found herself able to lift the heavy 
box with it. However, this arm, thus mirac- 
ulously healed, is said to have caused her 
great suffering to the day of her death, and 
on this voyage added agonies to her other 
trials. She was so wasted away when the 
ship arrived at Quebec that she was obliged 
to remain there several weeks before she was 
able to proceed to Montreal. 

Soon after her arrival there with the news 
of Dauversiere's death came that of the loss 
of the twenty thousand francs' endowment 
for the hospital, for he had used it to pay his 
debts. There was now no fund with which 
to keep up the expenses of the institution, 
191 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

and Mademoiselle Mance and her associates 
were recalled to France. This blow came 
upon her with stunning force, for she saw in 
it an ignominious end to all her ambitious 
dreams. But her indomitable spirit was not 
thus to be overcome ; in her extremity she 
appealed to the colonists for aid. Realizing 
what the return of these heroic women would 
mean to them in their struggles to gain a 
foothold in this savage land, they agreed 
unanimously to bear the expense of their 
maintenance until things took a more favor- 
able turn. Their bounty immediately took 
shape in the form of roasted pumpkins and 
cakes of Indian meal. " By which means," 
says a gentle sister historian, thirty years 
later, " they were at least kept from starving 
to death." 

They were lodged temporarily in an upper 
room which had to be reached by a ladder, 
and of which " poverty was the only orna- 
ment." During the long northern winter 
192 



Judith de Bresoles and Companions 

they suffered greatly from the cold, which 
was so intense that they were obliged to 
thaw out their bread before eating it, and to 
sweep out the snow which had accumulated 
in drifts through the cracks in the walls. 
Dauntless in their enthusiasm, they went 
on bravely in their work for the hospital. 
Judith de Bresoles developed a remarkable 
talent for making soups out of almost 
nothing, such as people had never tasted 
before. Dainty bits to satisfy the most 
capricious appetites were placed before the 
wondering patients, who considered their 
origin nothing less than divine. "This 
comes from the Infant Jesus, does it not t " 
asks a half-delirious bushranger, tasting with 
delight a dainty dish prepared by Judith's 
deft fingers. "From him indeed," she re- 
plies; "let us thank him together." 

Catherine Mace and Mademoiselle Maillet 
found their happiness in performing the 
menial duties of the hospital, which were 
13 193 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

occasionally interrupted by supernatural 
visions. In one of these granted to Made- 
moiselle Maillet, the two defunct founders, 
Olier and Dauversiere, appeared and as- 
sured her that this work would never perish, 
that all the tempests that assailed it would 
never uproot it from the soil in which it was 
planted like a rock, ending with the cheerful 
statement that poverty and suffering were 
necessary to its existence. The governor 
and other officers of the colony frequently 
visited them, and would often indulge in 
gentle raillery on the poverty of their sur- 
roundings. They once vied with one an- 
other in guessing the original color and 
material of the nurses' caps and gowns, the 
wildest guess suggesting silk, but the patches 
of cotton and leather which predominated 
making this conjecture doubtful. Thus the 
happy French nature of these exiles arose 
above all their pitiful trials. 

After two years of this life of privation 
194 



yudith de Bresoles and Companions 

the condition of the hospital became more 
prosperous through various benefactions and 
endowments in France. But almost simul- 
taneously with this improvement in their 
fortunes the Iroquois again swooped down 
upon them, and all peace of mind was for a 
time at an end. The almost defenceless 
settlers were thrown into a state of appre- 
hension, for the prowling savages again be- 
gan to infest the neighborhood and horrible 
massacres were of frequent occurrence. 
Mademoiselle Morin, a young woman who 
came over from France three years after 
the others, gives a vivid description of this 
period. 

" We were daily confronted by the frightful 
spectacle of the tortures to which they (the Iro- 
quois) subjected our neighbors and friends who 
happened to fail into their hands. All this gave us 
a horror of these barbarians which only those who 
have been in a Hke extremity can appreciate. For 
my part, death would have been preferable to a life 
involved in such dangers, and plunged into sym- 
195 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

pathy for the horrible sufferings inflicted upon our 
poor brothers. 

" Every time our people were attacked, the toc- 
sin sounded to summon the people to the rescue, 
and to warn those who were working in dangerous 
places to withdraw promptly, which each one did 
at the tap of the bell. My sister Bresoles and I 
ascended to the belfry that the man-servant might 
go out against the enemy. From this elevated 
place we often saw the conflict, which filled us with 
such fear that we ran down all trembling, believing 
our last hour had come. When the tocsin was 
sounded, my sister Maillet almost fainted from fear, 
and my sister Mace, all the time the alarm lasted, 
remained in a state of speechlessness pitiful to see. 
Both went to the chapel to prepare for death, or 
withdrew into their rooms. As soon as I learned 
that the Iroquois had withdrawn, I sent and told 
them, which seemed to comfort them and give 
them new life. My sister Bresoles was more cour- 
ageous ; fear, which she could not help but feel, did 
not prevent her from tending her sick and receiving 
those who were brought in wounded or dying." 

This siege of the Iroquois has already 
been referred to in the chapter on Mother 
196 



The Death of Dollard. 



Judith de Bresoles and Companions 

Marie Guyard of Quebec. The hero Bol- 
lard and his sixteen young associates of 
Montreal freed the country from this scourge 
for a long time to come. But it was done at 
the cost of his own life and that of many of 
the best men of Montreal; among them, the 
two Sulpician priests who came over^ with 
the two mothers of Montreal on their . last 
return from France; also the courageous 
Major Closse, who had for years defended 
the colony with great valor. " I only came 
over to Canada," said the dying man, " to 
die for God, serving him as a soldier, and 
would have left here and gone to fight the 
Turks rather than to be deprived of this 
glory." 

Ten years more passed away, and Jea,nne 
Mance too finished her course on earth. 
Her last years were full of suffering, but she 
was surrounded by faithful friends who, by 
their tender care and sympathy, soothed the 
passage of this heroic soul into eternity. 
197 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

She died in 1673, two years after Madame 
de la Peltrie and one after Mother Marie 
Guyard. Her work was well done. Mont- 
real, now the great commercial centre of 
Canada, was founded, and the hospital or 
Hotel-Dieu, the hope and inspiration of her 
life, was firmly established. Its numbers 
were augmented from year to year by recruits 
from France, and, as has been said already, 
after two centuries and a half of vicissitudes 
from fire, war, and famine, it may be seen to- 
day, on the same spot, one of the largest and 
most prominent buildings of Montreal. 

The visible results of Marguerite Bour- 
geois' long life in Canada was the institution 
of a band of young women who were bound 
by vows to teach the young, the building of 
a church, and the establishment of schools 
for the instruction of Indian and French 
children. She died January 12, 1700. Her 
heart, which had beaten with pain at the 
cry of suffering childhood, with agony at 
198 



yudith de Bresoles and Companions 

the shriek of the tortured victim of Iroquois 
cruelty, with shame at the contentions of 
Christian brotherhoods, and with rapture 
when even one little child received the 
anointing drops of baptism, — that heart, 
encased in its silver covering, now rests in 
the chapel of a convent where she so long 
labored and loved. 



199 



IV 

JEANNE LE BER 
THE RECLUSE OF MONTREAL 

\ S the godchild of Jeanne Mance and the 
-^ ^ pupil and benefactress of Marguerite 
Bourgeois, it is fitting that the story of this 
strange girl's life should follow theirs. It 
was one long spiritual exaltation compared 
to which the pious zeal of the other women 
mentioned here seems almost like levity and 
indifference. While they were engaged in 
ffood works whose results have withstood the 
test of centuries, she was immured in a cell 
behind an altar making artificial flowers and 
embroidering church vestments, a few of 
which have survived the ravages of time and 
may be seen in a convent at Montreal. Vet 
she was one of the pioneer women of New 
200 



yeanne Le Ber 

France, and her idiosyncrasies have im- 
pressed themselves so indelibly on the pages 
of history that no mention of the women of 
the early days of Montreal would be com- 
plete without her. 

Her mother was one of those maids 
whom Marguerite Bourgeois had brought 
over from France, and had found a husband 
for, in Canada. This gentleman, Jacques 
Le Ber, became one of the richest and most 
widely known merchants in the Canadian 
country. His contentions with one of the 
corrupt governors of Montreal, Monsieur 
Perrot, are recorded minutely in the legal 
documents of the times. Le Ber was a 
straightforward and honest citizen, and the 
tricks resorted to by the unscrupulous gov- 
ernor to get furs from the Indians aroused 
his indignation and resulted in open enmity 
between them. He is described once as 
leading a party of indignant citizens to de- 
mand apologies from the governor, because 

20I 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

the latter, having nothing left to trade a 
burly chief for some valuable skins except 
his clothes, had given him these with a plen- 
tiful supply of firewater, and the drunken 
savage was seen swaggering around the 
town all day in the governor's coat, sash, 
knee breeches, and buckled shoes. 

Jeanne was eight years old in 1670, when 
Marguerite Bourgeois, who had instructed 
her up to that time, found it necessary to 
make one of her visits to France. Mother 
Marie Guyard, though old and feeble, was 
still the pervading spirit of the now well- 
established girls' seminary at Quebec, and 
Madame Le Ber, thinking it inexpedient 
to await Mademoiselle Bourgeois' uncertain 
return, sent Jeanne there to be educated. 
During the seven years that she remained 
at the seminary, the annals of the place are 
filled with her childish acts of penance and 
self-mortification. She was once given a 
cushion upon which to do her embroidery, 
202 



yeanne Le Ber 

elaborately trimmed with ribbons and laces. 
She waited until the donor, a Quebec lady 
of rank who was a friend of her parents, 
had passed out of the door, then, picking up 
the dainty pillow, she ripped off all the lace 
and ribbons, and was about to throw them 
into the fire, when she was arrested by the 
indignant protest of an attendant. The orna- 
ments were sewed on the cushion again, but 
the embroidery worked thereon was deluged 
by such a shower of tears from the offended 
child that it was finally decided to yield to 
her objections to this flummery and allow 
her to dispense with it. Owing to her high 
station in life, she always wore dresses of the 
finest material that could be brought from 
France, but she did so with an ill grace, 
expressing her preference for the homely and 
patched gowns of the charity pensioners. 

She shrank from appearing in public and 
taking part in the little plays enacted in the 
school, "not because," says her biographer, 
203 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

" she was ungainly or awkward in her ap- 
pearance, or of ungraceful speech." On the 
contrary, she was graceful in the extreme, 
and spoke with a readiness and fluency that 
excited the admiration of all those who heard 
her, not only in childhood, but on the rare 
occasions in after Hfe when she condescended 
to express her opinions. She never indulged 
in the dainties that were sent to her by the 
Quebec friends of her family, but gener- 
ously presented them to her schoolmates, 
who were less scrupulous about indulging 
their mundane tastes for sweets, and ac- 
cepted them without protest. Another pecu- 
liarity of this remarkable child was a love 
of solitude and silence, which prompted 
her to pass entire days without speaking 
except when called upon to recite her les- 
sons. This brief glimpse into her character 
will be sufficient explanation of her with- 
drawal from the world, — a step which she 
early determined upon. 
204 



yeanne Le Ber 

At fifteen she returned to Montreal to the 
spacious and beautiful home of her parents 
on St. Paul Street. Here, although there 
was an even more devotional spirit than in 
the other pious households of Montreal at 
this time, there were also enough worldly 
diversions and entertainments to attract a 
young girl. Distinguished persons were 
guests at this house, and Jeanne soon found 
herself surrounded by a coterie of Mont- 
real's most brilliant and dashing youth. Her 
parents, anxious to have this, their only 
daughter, make a brilliant marriage and 
establish herself well in the country, soon 
chose from among them a suitable husband 
for her and signified their desire that she 
should receive the young man with favor. 
For although the pious tendencies of their 
daughter's mind were well known to them, 
they had no suspicion of the aspirations that 
were filling her young soul. It therefore 
came upon them like a thunderclap when 
205 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

she repudiated the husband chosen for her, 
and unfolded her plan of passing all the rest 
of her life in seclusion, under her father's 
roof or wherever it might be most conve- 
nient. After mature reflection, the piety 
of the parents would not allow them to op- 
pose this seemingly holy inspiration. They 
consented, therefore, to their daughter's mak- 
ing the experiment, but with the secret hope 
that it prove to be only a whim, and that 
in time she would not only be satisfied, but 
glad to give it up. 

She immediately began her life of seclu- 
sion by immuring herself in a room in her 
father's house. Here she remained for fif- 
teen years, beginning in the year 1680, 
without any communication with even the 
inmates of her own household, except 
through the mediation of the servant who 
attended her. She regarded herself as a 
victim, who was to expiate her own sins as 
well as those of the whole community. She 
206 



yeanne Le Ber 

covered her body with haircloth, and in- 
dulged in all the austerities of the most re- 
nowned candidates for sainthood. Her food 
was scanty and coarse, all delicacies which 
found their way to her room being left un- 
touched. In fact, lest the ordinary food of 
the family might prove too acceptable to her 
palate, she had the attendant bring the 
crusts of bread left by the servants, which, 
with plenty of water, formed her diet for 
several days in succession. All communi- 
cation with her parents and brothers was 
renounced, and she never crossed the thresh- 
old of her chamber except to attend church 
every morning at five o'clock. She went 
forth attended by her servant, her eyes 
cast down, her hands clasped upon her 
bosom, and after entering the little church 
would prostrate herself before the altar in 
silent adoration. But her confessor, the sole 
person she had bound herself to obey, finally 
requested her to give up this practice, for as 
207 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

piety was becoming less and less conspic- 
uous in the country, this act might attract 
unfavorable comment. 

When Mademoiselle Le Ber had been in 
her retreat two years, her mother died after a 
long illness. Although her daughter is said 
to have had the most filial attachment for this 
parent, the suffering woman's moans did not 
move her from her retreat. She refused all 
appeals to show herself at her mother's bed- 
side, fulfilling her duty by praying for the 
future repose of her soul. The mother 
finally died without the solace of the 
daughter's presence. " This was the most 
poignant sorrow she had to endure," says 
the biographer, " and the one which pierced 
her heart most deeply. However, she bore 
this great trial with a strength worthy of her 
magnanimous courage." 

After the loss of his wife, Monsieur Le Ber 
entreated his daughter earnestly to abandon 
her retreat and take her mother's place in 
208 



yeanne Le Ber 

the now bereaved household. But she re- 
ceived his proposition in unrelenting silence. 
We can imagine the dreariness which now 
pervaded the home life of this family, from 
which the mother had departed on her long 
journey, and the daughter had voluntarily 
isolated herself. The lonely father and 
motherless younger brothers sat in dreary 
state around their bountiful table, heaped 
with all the dainties of Canadian field, river, 
and forest, sadly recalling the beloved qual- 
ities of the dead mother, and bitterly deplor- 
ing the obduracy of the erratic sister. For 
although she was destined to become the 
" marvel of her century and the most per- 
fect model ever offered to young Canadian 
girls," those whose lot happened to place 
them in her immediate vicinity were, no 
doubt, unreasonable enough to deplore their 
ill-luck in having this saint in their family. 

When one of these brothers, Jean Le Ber 
du Chesne, was mortally wounded in a 
14 209 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

skirmish with the Iroquois and brought 
dying to his home, his sister again refused 
to leave her room. When he died Mar- 
guerite Bourgeois and a companion has- 
tened to the bereaved family to offer their 
sympathy and help. Suddenly the " holy re- 
cluse " appeared before them, placed in their 
hands what was needed to shroud the dead 
brother, prayed silently an instant over his 
dead body, and silently withdrew, leaving the 
good Mademoiselle Bourgeois " full of edifi- 
cation and astonishment at so much fortitude 
and virtue at such a time." 

The recluse did not divest herself of all 
her possessions in thus withdrawing from 
the world. By this fortunate circumstance 
she was enabled to carry out a plan which 
had been formulating itself in her mind by 
which she could make her separation from 
the world more complete. For, however suc- 
cessful had been her experiment at solitude 
in her father's house, this seclusion was 

2IO 



yeanne Le Ber 

more or less interfered with by the necessity 
of leaving the house every day to go to* 
church. In the intervals between her sacred 
occupations, she had conceived a plan by 
which this necessity of appearing daily in 
public would be forever obviated. The plan 
was no other than to live in the church. 

Marguerite Bourgeois' society of teachers 
were planning the addition of a chapel to 
their little establishment. Mademoiselle Le 
Ber determined to build this chapel at her 
own expense, and have a retreat set apart in 
it for herself, where she might pass the rest 
of her life under the very droppings of the 
sanctuary. This plan was put immediately 
into execution, and in the rear of the chapel, 
behind the altar, extending its whole width 
and height, with a depth of ten feet, a room 
was constructed. It was divided into three 
cells, one above the other, to be used respec- 
tively as confessional, sleeping-room, and 
work-room. There was a small opening in 

211 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

the end of the lower cell, through which her 
food was to be passed in by her attendant, 
a poor cousin. Her bed was of straw, her 
dress a coarse gray serge, which she wore 
until it hung about her in rags, her food 
the plainest fare. The lower cell was sepa- 
rated from the chapel only by an iron grating, 
through which she could hear the services 
without being seen. 

She took a vow of perpetual seclusion, 
August 5, 1695. There is a quaint pic- 
ture of this ceremony, in which the most 
striking figures are the pious demoiselle her- 
self kneeling before the altar, around her 
ministering priests and acolytes, standing 
erect the stately form of Marguerite Bour- 
geois, and the merchant Le Ber, stooped 
now and weeping, making his way out of 
the chapel. It is said that he offered her a 
gift of fifty thousand francs to return to her 
home, but she refused it without hesitation. 

The order followed by the recluse in her 
212 



yeanne Le Ber 

new retreat has been recorded minutely, — a 
certain number of hours in silent, and others 
in audible prayer, a certain time to self-casti- 
gation, to reading holy books, to confession, 
etc., and what time was left after all these 
spiritual occupations was spent in making 
artificial flowers and other ornaments, and 
embroidering altar cloths and chasubles. 
At midnight she crept forth into the cold 
and cheerless chapel, and, prostrating herself 
before the altar, prayed audibly for hours 
in succession. Although there was a stove 
in her little apartment, it is averred that 
she seldom had a fire lighted in it, even 
in the intense cold of the long northern 
winter. 

Her renown for saintliness began to spread 
throughout all New France. Pilgrimages 
were made to her retreat, and many ques- 
tions asked as to her method of life, to 
which she seldom vouchsafed an answer. 
The bishop was proud of this holy prodigy, 
213 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

and brought many visitors to be edified by 
her saintly practices. Among others, two 
Protestant clergymen from New England, 
who expressed their wonder and amazement 
at this strange damsel's dwelling-place and 
manner of life. After returning to their 
respective homes in New England the biog- 
rapher avers that one of them was so im- 
pressed with the demoiselle Le Ber's exalted 
virtues and holy life that he renounced his 
own faith to adopt that so beautifully exem- 
plified in hers. 

Her prayers were sought by those going 
forth to battle against the savages or Eng- 
lish. She had been known to avert the 
destruction of the granary of the community 
by having a picture of the Virgin placed 
upon the door, under which was a prayer 
written by her own hand. This was after- 
wards stolen by some devout settler who 
wished to have the safety of his own corn 
assured, but Mademoiselle Le Ber was pre- 
214 



yeanne Le Ber 

vailed upon to replace it with another exactly 
like it. 

Thereafter she received many requests for 
similar prayers, most of which she refused. 
However, in the year 171 1, when the French 
were apprehending a formidable attack from 
the English, Baron de Longueuil, Governor 
of Montreal and Mademoiselle Le Ber's 
cousin, entreated her for some pious emblem 
to be carried to battle as a charm against the 
enemy. She granted his request by present- 
ing him with a banner on which her artist 
brother, the first to introduce the art of 
painting into Canada, had painted a picture 
of the Virgin. Beneath this she wrote the 
words : " Our foes place all their trust in 
their arms ; but we place ours in the Queen 
of Angels, whom we invoke. She is as terri- 
ble as an army in battle array; under her 
protection we hope to conquer our enemies." 
The banner was publicly blessed, to the great 
edification of the people, and placed in the 
215 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

hands of the governor. But it was never 
used to lead his soldiers in battle, for the 
English fleet about to besiege Quebec met 
with disaster and ruin through a terrible tem- 
pest which arose on the night of the expected 
attack, and the dismantled ships returned to 
England defeated and humiliated. 

It is said that she never went to the win- 
dow to look forth into the outer world, 
but kept strictly in the background of her 
cell. The window was never opened, how- 
ever sultry the day, except when she was 
receiving her food, which she took and 
ate in silence, passed back the dishes, and 
disappeared. If she were sick and unable 
to appear, a note to this effect was found at 
the window by the attendant, who, on these 
rare occasions, was allowed to enter this 
holy precinct and minister to the prostrate 
form on her pallet of straw. 

Her window overlooked the well-kept 
garden of Marguerite Bourgeois' society, as 
216 



yeanne Le Ber 

well as that of her father's house, but she 
was never known to look out upon these 
beautiful spots. A new building designed 
as a boarding-school for girls was being 
constructed at her expense, and she could 
hear the shouts of the workmen, and, if she 
had looked out, could have seen the rising 
walls of the edifice. But she never did so, 
and when requested to visit this new build- 
ing, declined positively to leave her retreat. 

I have said that she left little behind her 
at her death to perpetuate her name except 
her holiness. This statement may be too 
positive in face of the fact that she gave all 
the remnant of her fortune, that she might 
die poor, to the endowment of this institu- 
tion. She provided scholarships for seven 
girls in this school, stipulating that, if they 
were poor girls, they should not learn to 
read and write, for this was a sinful waste 
of time which might be better employed in 
learning some useful occupation. 
217 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Her father died in the year 1706. He 
had always profited by his privilege of visit- 
ing the recluse twice a year, and had clung 
to her all these years with tenderness and 
loyalty. However, she would not consent 
to be present at his dying bed, and while 
his funeral services were being chanted in 
the neighboring church, " what is worthy of 
admiration is," says her biographer, " that 
in spite of her deep grief at these mournful 
sounds she went on with her usual pious 
exercises as if nothing were happening." 

With this unresponsiveness to paternal 
love, it may be imagined that advances from 
more distant relatives were met with less 
courtesy. Two young nephews, children of 
a wayward brother, came one day to see this 
wonderful saint of whom they had heard 
from their babyhood. They went away 
well satisfied, and frightened, when, after 
waiting several hours in the little chapel, 
they at last caught a glimpse of a sombre 
218 



yeanne Le Ber 

female figure, in a tattered gray robe, praying 
behind the gratings of her cell. 

She passed twenty years in this retreat 
behind the altar of the chapel of the Con- 
gregation, making in all thirty-five years of 
seclusion. In 1714 the demoiselle Le Ber 
died, in an odor of sanctity which enthusi- 
astic historians have wafted down to the 
twentieth century. 



219 



V 

MADELEINE DE VERCH£RES 

THE HEROINE OF CASTLE DANGEROUS 

T^THILE Jeanne Le Ber was living im- 
^ ^ mured behind an altar in a chapel 
of Montreal, Madeleine de Vercheres, the 
subject of this sketch, was enjoying the 
buoyant and happy life of the country a few 
leagues away. Reference has been made in 
a previous chapter, and will be made more 
at length in a succeeding one, to a regiment 
of French soldiers who arrived at Quebec 
in 1665. Among the officers of this regi- 
ment was one Captain Vercheres, who re- 
solved to take up his permanent residence 
there. To encourage emigration to these 
new settlements, fiefs were at this time be- 
220 



Madeleine de Vercheres 

ing granted on the condition that those to 
whom they were given would settle colonists 
upon them. The fief granted to Captain 
Vercheres was an exceedingly dangerous 
one, for it happened to be in the direct 
route of the Iroquois to Montreal. From 
this fact the fort in time came to be known 
as the Castle Dangerous of Canada. It 
was built in the usual manner, consisting 
of a number of log cabins with a blockhouse 
connected by a covered passage and all sur- 
rounded by a palisaded wall. 

Here the Seigneur de Vercheres lived 
with his family, and here the farmers and 
tenants forming the settlement all gathered 
at nightfall for safety and protection. In the 
morning they went, with a gun in one hand 
and a hoe in the other, to cultivate their 
land, leaving the women and children within 
the fort. Besides the supervision of this 
estate, the Seigneur de Vercheres had mili- 
tary duties that often called him to Mont- 

221 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

real or Quebec, when the fort was left in 
charge of his family, which consisted of a 
wife, two boys, and one girl. 

These children had been taught from 
earliest childhood how to handle firearms, 
and were equally skilful in bringing down 
a squirrel from the highest branches of the 
oak-tree or a bird in its flight through the 
air. They had listened to tales of Iroquois 
cunning and cruelty until each little heart 
swelled with horror at the recital of their 
atrocious deeds, and with pride at the sto- 
ries of the heroic acts of their countrymen 
in defending themselves and their homes. 
One of the boys in after years when young 
manhood was just filling his heart with the 
glory of living, when the stars of the officer 
upon his uniform gave his boyish soul an 
honest pride, went down on the field of 
battle, pierced by an Indian arrow. 

Madeleine, the daughter, lived many years 
after the brave defence here recorded, for 

222 



Madeleine de Vercheres 

which the French government gave her a 
liberal life pension. She married a Mon- 
sieur de la Naudiere, and after a few years 
became a widow. Then in another encoun- 
ter with the Indians she saved a French 
gentleman from death at their hands. And 
as such things are in fairy tales, so was this 
in reality, she became the wife of the man 
she had saved. Her girlhood was passed 
amid scenes of danger and alarm, and she 
early became accustomed to the sight of 
the painted savages, and their terrifying war- 
cry was a familiar sound in her ears. Only 
two years before, she had seen her mother, 
with three or four men, defend the fort 
against a party of Iroquois, so that it was 
not only by precept but by example also that 
she had learned the lesson of courage. For 
six days and nights she defended the fort 
without wavering or faltering, and when the 
ordeal was over she came down to the 
ordinary pleasures of her fourteen years, and 
223 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

devoted herself to the entertainment of the 
friend whose coming had been fraught with 
such a terrifying experience. 

It seems strange that the fort should ever 
have been left with so little protection as it 
was on this eventful 2 2d of October, 1692. 
But there had been no attacks for some time, 
and the settlers were feeling a little more 
secure than in the past. Captain Vercheres 
was on duty in Quebec, and his wife was 
visiting friends in Montreal. Madeleine, left 
in charge of her younger brothers and the 
fort, thought to pass the time agreeably by 
inviting a friend from Montreal, twenty 
miles away, to stay a few days with her. So 
on this bright October morning, filled with 
the thought of seeing her friend and hear- 
ing those bits of gossip about Paris that 
were as glimpses of fairyland to this forest 
child, she started gayly forth to meet her at 
the river landing and conduct her to the 
fort. Calling a single servant to accompany 
224 



Madeleine de Vercheres 

her, she went on her way singing snatches of 
songs that rivalled the sweetness of the 
carolling birds above her. The sun was 
shining brightly on the gorgeous autumn 
leaves and reflecting the glowing tints of 
the sky on the bosom of the river. 

She stood for a moment on the bank, her 
uplifted hand shading her eyes, glancing up 
the stream. But, no, the skiff of her friend 
was not yet in sight, and, turning idly to 
amuse herself while she waited, she heard 
a sound from the field where the settlers 
were at work. What was it ? " Run, Lavio- 
lette, to the top of the hillock and see," she 
called to the servant, but still not appre- 
hensive of danger. Then she turned again 
to glance up the river and at the peaceful, 
beautiful scene about her. But she was 
suddenly startled from her meditations by 
the terrified voice of the servant calling, 
" Run, Mademoiselle, run ! here come the 
Iroquois ! " As she turned quickly at the 
IS 225 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

sound, she saw, not more than a pistol-shot 
away, forty or fifty of the savages coming 
toward her. 

It did not need the sight of their war 
paint and feathers to lend wings to the feet 
of this young girl, and she soon outstripped 
in speed the swift-running Iroquois. On, 
on, she fled, as the thought of the nameless 
horrors that would follow her capture flashed 
through her mind. At last they saw that 
her fleetness would gain the fort before they 
could reach and capture her alive, and so 
they sent their deadly bullets whistling 
about her ears. Only a minute was be- 
tween her and safety, and yet with the 
sound of those bullets in her ears, it 
seemed an age before she reached the 
fort. " To arms ! to arms ! " she shouted, 
when near enough to be heard. But not 
a face showed itself, not a shot was fired 
in her defence. Those within were filled 
with terror, the only two soldiers left to 
226 



Madeleine de Vercheves 

protect the fort having hidden themselves 
in the blockhouse. 

Without the gate she found two of the 
women rushing about and tearing their hair 
with the agony of new-born grief. Their 
husbands, who had cheerfully bade them 
good-bye in the morning when they went 
out to till their fields and prepare them for 
the spring seeding, had just been killed by 
the savages. Madeleine instantly realized 
the imminent danger these women were in, 
and assuming a stern and commanding mien 
she ordered them to go inside. Dazed by 
their grief, they mutely obeyed her, and not 
a moment too soon was the gate closed. 
Inside the fort she found the two soldiers in 
the blockhouse, standing with blanched faces 
and a lighted match in their hands, ready to 
blow it up and save themselves from Iro- 
quois torture. When Madeleine compre- 
hended their intent, with flashing eyes she 
snatched the burning match from the nerve- 
227 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

less hand, and stamping it under foot, 
ordered the men out of the blockhouse. 

She then proceeded to examine the condi- 
tion of the wall. Openings were found in it 
large enough for the enemy to enter. Surely 
these, had they only known it, could not 
have chosen a better time to attack the fort. 
Two cowardly soldiers, an old man of eighty, 
a number of women and children, two boys, 
a servant, and a young girl were all there 
were to oppose the howling troop of demons. 
But they did not know this, and therein lay 
the safety of the little group. 

As soon as Madeleine saw the openings in 
the wall, she hastened and with the help of 
the men put up the palisades that had been 
thrown down. With a thoughtfulness that 
seems almost incredible in one so young, she 
tossed aside her woman's head-gear and 
placed a man's hat upon her head, so that 
if the Indians saw her they would take her 
for a man and therefore a more formidable 
228 



Madeleine de Verch^res 

opponent. Calling her two young brothers 
to her, lads of ten and twelve years, she said^ 
to them, " Let us fight to the death ; we are 
fighting for our country and our religion. 
Remember that our father has taught you 
that gentlemen are born to shed their blood 
for God and the king ! " 

Opposite the poorly manned fort the Iro- 
quois stood debating upon the best plan of 
attack. But Madeleine did not wait for 
them to attack her ; with her small command 
she began, through the loopholes, a scatter- 
ing fire upon the Indians. The weapons in 
the hands of these young warriors were not 
the toy guns of the children of to-day, but 
guns carrying death-dealing missiles, and 
they were fired with a steady and true aim. 
The Indians drew back ; they had not calcu- 
lated on being put so soon on the defen- 
sive. Open attack was now out of the 
question ; they must resort to cunning to 
gain their ends. 

229 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

While they were thus hesitating, Made- 
leine remembered that there were men out 
in the fields at work, who might know noth- 
ing as yet of the danger that threatened 
them. How could she warn them without 
betraying herself to the enemy ? This ques- 
tion was solved by firing off the one cannon 
in the fort. The sound reached far, and not 
only warned the laborers, but frightened the 
Indians, who withdrew farther from the 
fort. All the time, however, that they were 
planning the best method of attacking the 
fort, they were searching for these laborers 
whom they knew to be in the fields. Some 
of these unfortunates did not succeed in es- 
caping, and then from the blockhouse went 
up the shrieks and cries of the women and 
children who saw their husbands and fathers 
struck down and tortured. But even to give 
vent to their grief in this human fashion was 
forbidden them, for if the enemy heard it, they 
would know the fort was v/eakly defended. 
230 



Madeleine de Vercheres 

■ As Madeleine soothed their anguish, a 
fresh cause for anxiety came to her. A 
canoe was gliding swiftly up the river. 
It contained the friend whose coming she 
had so gayly anticipated. She must be 
warned at any cost. Some one must walk 
from the gate of the fort down to the landing 
and bring her up. But who would do this ? 
The two soldiers, when it was mentioned to 
them, instantly refused. They had some- 
what regained their courage under the ex- 
ample of Madeleine, and aided her all they 
could within the fort. But to step outside 
the fortified place and walk down to the 
landing-place in full view of half a hundred 
lurking savages ! No; that they would not 
do. No one but the intrepid girl had cour- 
age enough for this. The savages would 
doubtless think it simply a ruse to lure them 
within reach of that dreadful loud-sounding 
gun and not molest her, she reasoned. And 
she reasoned rightly, for not a savage came 
231 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

forth from his hiding-place as she walked 
calmly down to the landing and brought 
back not only her friend, Marguerite Fon- 
taine, but her friend's husband, Pierre. 

Then all through the long bright day they 
watched, taking deadly aim at any Iroquois 
who for an instant forgot caution and ven- 
tured into view. This watchfulness told the 
savages plainly that a daylight attack would 
be met with fierce resistance. The night 
was coming on, and they bided their time. 
But Madeleine also knew that night was 
coming, and she prepared for it. She sent 
Pierre Fontaine and the two children to the 
blockhouse in charge of the women and 
children, and said to them, before they went, 
" God has saved us to-day from the hands 
of our enemies, but we must take care not 
to fall into their snares to-night. As for 
me, I want you to see that I am not afraid. 
I will take charge of the fort with an old 
man of eighty and another who never fired 
232 



Madeleine de Vercheres 

a gun ; and you, Pierre Fontaine, with La 
Bonte and Gachet (the two soldiers), will 
go to the blockhouse with the women and 
children because that is the strongest place ; 
and if I am taken, do not surrender, even if 
I am cut to pieces or burned before your 
eyes. The enemy cannot hurt you in the 
blockhouse if you make the least resistance." 
Thus sending the three strongest men to the 
safest place, she went with the others and 
her two brothers to the weakest, to keep 
watch the long night through. 

The night had turned in cold and wintry, 
and snow and hail were falling. Nothing 
broke the stillness of the night but the 
measured tread of the weak trio of pickets 
and the ever-recurring sound, " All 's well," 
echoing from fort to blockhouse, and from 
blockhouse to fort. The cunning Iroquois 
scout was deceived, as he afterwards con- 
fessed to the governor at Montreal, into 
thinking the fort was full of armed men. 
233 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

At one o'clock a strange sound was heard, 
and Madeleine hastened to investigate the 
cause. But it was only some of the cattle 
returning. With her usual caution she 
would not permit the gate to be opened 
for their entrance until she had assured her- 
self by closely scrutinizing their movements 
that they were not Iroquois concealed in 
animal hides. Even then she posted her 
two brothers one on each side of the gate 
with guns cocked, and orders to fire in case 
the faintest suspicion that one of the ani- 
mals was other than it seemed, which for- 
tunately was not the case. 

The long night wore through, and when 
morning dawned the spirits of the inmates 
of the fort revived. Danger can be met so 
much more bravely in daylight than in dark- 
ness. But all too quickly the hours passed, 
bringing the darkness again. There had 
been little excitement during the day. The 
Indians overestimated the strength and 
234 



Madeleine de Verchhres 

numbers of the defenders, and skulked from 
one tree or protecting bush to another. 
When occasionally one exposed himself to 
view, a shot from the fort caused him 
quickly to seek cover again. Madame Fon- 
taine, unused to Indian warfare, weakly 
begged her husband to slip away with her 
and seek safety in some other fort. But he, 
filled with admiration for the bravery dis- 
played by the girl commander, and knowing 
too that the chances of safety were far greater 
in the besieged fort than they would be in 
the open field or wood trying to evade the 
cunning watchfulness of the Iroquois, refused 
to go. Madeleine passed the day in trying 
to dispel the fears of her friend, soothing 
the women and children, encouraging the 
men, praising her brave young brothers, 
and watching for any signs of movement on 
the part of the Iroquois. 

Night came down and passed, and day- 
light and again the night. Madeleine, like 
235 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

an alert and watchful general, posted her 
sentries on each bastion. The first two 
nights, to quote her own words, she did 
not eat or sleep for twice twenty-four hours, 
nor go once into her father's house, but 
kept always on the bastion, or went to the 
blockhouse to encourage those there. After 
these first two trying nights and days she 
was able to get some sleep by placing her- 
self in front of a table, folding her arms 
upon this, and with her gun resting upon 
her arms and her head upon her gun, she 
was ready at the first note of warning to 
snatch up her weapon and face the enemy. 

Whence would come help to the little 
band.? How would their friends know of 
their danorer and come to their rescue.? 
They were not aware that some of the 
laborers in the fields had escaped and were 
slowly but surely making their way to Mont- 
real. Six days passed, and the fort con- 
tinued to be besieged. The band within 
236 



Madeleine de Vercheres 

still bravely watched while the relentless 
savages awaited stolidly but persistently for 
an opportunity safely to attack them. Early 
on the seventh day, while the darkness of 
night still covered the earth, the little boy, 
Alexander, who was on watch on that side 
of the fort facing the river, heard voices and 
the splashing of oars in the water. "Qui 
vive ? " he called bravely, but with a sinking 
heart, thinking it might be the canoes of 
the enemy. Madeleine, hearing the cry at 
the table where she was taking a short nap, 
sprang up and ran to the bastion. Hearing 
voices in a language that sounded like her 
own, she called, "Who are you?" "We 
are Frenchmen; it is La Monnerie who 
comes to bring you help." 

The siege was over. For six days and 
nights a girl of fourteen, aided by two boys 
and three men, had held a fort against a 
troop of savages many times their number. 
Posting her sentries at the gates, she walked 
237 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

calmly and with dignity down to the land- 
ing, saluting Monsieur de la Monnerie as a 
soldier, " Monsieur, I surrender to you my 
arms," to which she received the gallant 
reply, " Mademoiselle, they are in good 
hands ! " 



238 



FOURTH PERIOD 

ADVENT OF THE CARIGNAN 
REGIMENT 

I 

COMING OF THE KING'S GIRLS 

OR 

MARRIAGES AND SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW 
FRANCE 

^nr^HE first half-century of the colony of 
^ New France passed away before the 
farm and the family, the two elements most 
needful to its growth, as stated by Marc 
Lescarbot in the introduction to this work, 
had found a place there. In 1666 the rival 
colony of New England had a population of 
eighty thousand people, while there were 
only thirty-five hundred in New France. 
239 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Then an event took place which changed 
the whole aspect of affairs in Canada. Louis 
XIV. suddenly awoke from the indifference 
with which he had regarded this western 
colony, and determined to make it a New 
France indeed. A regiment of French sol- 
diers, recruited near the little town of Cari- 
gnan in France, had rendered themselves 
famous through several successful charges 
they had made in one of his wars. To re- 
ward them for their services, as well as to 
furnish settlers for the new colony, and in- 
cidentally to protect the inhabitants from the 
incursions of the Iroquois, they were sent 
over to Canada at different periods between 
1665 and 1667, forty companies in all. Their 
colonel was Monsieur Salieres, whence the 
regiment became known as that of Carignan- 
Salieres. 

As soon as they arrived, the officers were 
given large tracts of land, which they rented 
out to those who had been in their com- 
240 



Louis Xiy. 



Coming of the Kings Girls 

panics, thus forming a sort of military colony 
along the banks of the great rivers, which 
remained for many years the only highways 
of communication. The frontage of these 
farms was very narrow, but they extended 
back several miles; in fact, the length was 
generally as far back as their owners chose 
to clear the land. In the course of time this 
was divided up into smaller farms for their 
children, until finally the farm was often 
reduced to one very long and very narrow 
field, such as are even nowadays to be seen 
around Montreal and Quebec. 

The colonel of the Carignan regiment, 
worn out with service in many wars, after 
seeing his men well settled in their new 
homes, returned to France. The soldiers 
were forbidden this privilege, for it was evi- 
dent that their remaining in Canada would 
be the only means of getting the land cleared 
and increasing the population. The best way 
to insure their permanent residence in the 
i6 241 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

country was to have them marry, if wives 
could be found for them. But these impor- 
tant factors in the carrying out of such an 
excellent plan were conspicuous by their ab- 
sence, for the few daughters of the settlers 
either had already fallen victims to the snares 
of Cupid in the form of some ambitious 
young trader, or had found a refuge behind 
the walls of convent or hospital. It was 
seen, too, that heroic measures must be 
taken to prevent the young men from ally- 
ing themselves with Indian women, for 
then the large families which were looked 
upon as the hope of New France, would 
dwindle down to three or four half-breeds, 
and these of doubtful value as future citizens. 
After serious consideration it was decided 
to follow the example of the Virginian and 
New England colonies; to import girls 
from the mother country and to have matri- 
monial markets at Quebec and Montreal 
at least twice a year, v/here these swains 
242 



Coming of the Kings Girls 

could choose themselves a wife. The king 
entered enthusiastically into this plan, so 
enthusiastically that there was danger, says 
a critic, of depopulating Old France for the 
sake of providing families for the New. 
Almost every ship brought over large or 
small consignments of girls, according to the 
demand, who thereafter became known as 
" the king's girls." They performed their 
mission of establishing homes and families 
with admirable celerity, and the parish 
priests were kept in a continual flurry be- 
tween tying nuptial knots and baptizing 
children. Bounties were placed upon large 
families, and for many successive years the 
population of Canada increased far beyond 
the hopes of the most sanguine. But the 
Old World follies and vices brought over by 
these new importations, swaggering young 
soldiers who had seen life in many countries, 
and sprightly, coquettish maids, changed the 
whole nature of primitive Canadian society. 
243 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

The betrothal and marriage of these dam- 
sels was not a very ceremonious and stately 
affair. Two weeks after the arrival of each 
company all had to be married off. To 
facilitate this matter and hasten the choice 
of the more deliberate youths, a law was 
made that every young man who had not 
chosen a wife at the end of a fortnight 
after their arrival should be deprived of the 
privileges of hunting, trading, and fishing. 
Those who absolutely refused to marry were 
dealt with still more severely, for it was re- 
commended that they should be denied all 
positions of honor, and, if practicable, be 
branded with some marks of infamy. 

The character of the girls was not al- 
ways unimpeachable, and it was occasion- 
ally necessary to return some of them to 
France, that the morals of the community 
might not be corrupted. There were even 
some who had left husbands at home and 
secretly slipped into the company, to seek 
244 



Coming of the Kings Girls 

partners more to their taste in the New 
World. In truth, so many irregularities at 
last crept in that it was deemed advis- 
able to provide the girls with certificates of 
good character to present on their arrival at 
Quebec. The women who had charge of 
this " merchandise," as Marie Guyard jocosely 
called them, had much trouble in keeping 
them in order during the voyage across 
the ocean. But Marguerite Bourgeois, who 
brought several consignments for Montreal, 
managed to ingratiate herself well with them 
and was ever afterwards the object of their 
good-will. She superintended their choice 
of partners with great sagacity, naively con- 
fessing that it was necessary for her to be 
there because families were to be made. 

These annual matrimonial markets of 
pioneer days have been made the jest of 
satirist and critic. There is one in partic- 
ular who has been quoted by nearly every 
Canadian historian who has referred to this 
245 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

subject, and it may not be out of place 
here, also, to give his account of the affair 
in his own words; but a few lines regard- 
ing the history of the man himself will 
readily explain the motive he had for thus 
holding the colonists up to ridicule. 

In 1683 there arrived at Quebec a young 
Gascon, the Baron La Hontan, who had 
risen through native shrewdness and ability 
from the position of a soldier in the ranks 
to that of officer. He was a witty and 
amusing fellow and soon succeeded in ingra- 
tiating himself in the favor of the governor, 
Count Frontenac, who had the clannish 
spirit of the men of Gascony. For many 
years La Hontan filled offices of trust and 
honor in Canada, but at last, through some 
misdemeanor, he incurred the displeasure 
of his chief, and was obliged to flee from 
Quebec and make his way back to France. 
Here, following a custom more or less popu- 
lar in those days, he wrote a book on New 
246 



Coming of the King's Girls 

France, wherein he vented his spleen against 
the people, the government, and the clergy. 
In this he declares that all the statements 
he will make on these subjects are " truths 
clearer than the day," notwithstanding the 
contrary statements of future wiseacres who 
will seek to discredit them. 

" After these first inhabitants there came a folk 
useful to the country and a good riddance to the 
Kingdom. There arrived one day at Quebec a 
small fleet loaded with Amazons and crowds of 
females, Nuns of Paphos or of Cythera conducting 
this precious cargo. I have been told the circum- 
stances of their coming, and I cannot resist the 
pleasure of sharing the story with you. 

" This chaste flock was led to the pasture by old 
and prudish Shepherdesses. As soon as they had 
arrived, these wrinkled dames passed their Soldiery 
in review, and having separated them into three 
Classes, each group entered a difl'erent Room. As 
they had to crowd quite close together on account 
of the smallness of the place, they made rather 
a pleasant decoration, and the good merchant 
Cupid had no reason to be ashamed of his wares. 
247 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Never had he made a better assortment. Blonde, 
brunette, red, black, fat, thin, large, small, he 
could satisfy the most bizarre and most fastidious 
tastes. 

"The report of the new cargo being spread 
abroad, all the well-intentioned in the way of 
multiplication hastened thither. As it was not 
permitted to examine all and still less to take 
them on trial, it was a case of buying a pig in a 
poke, or rather of buying the whole piece from 
the sample. But the disposal of them was none 
the less rapid on this account. Each selected his 
partner and in a fortnight these three lots of veni- 
son had been taken away with all the seasoning 
that could be taken with them. 

" The next day the governor-general caused to 
be distributed to them enough provisions to give 
them courage to embark upon this stormy sea. 
They went to housekeeping almost as did Noah in 
the ark, with an ox, a cow, a pair of swine, a pair 
of fowls, two barrels of salted meat, and a piece of 
money. The Officers were more fastidious than 
the Soldiers, and allied themselves with the daugh- 
ters of other Officers or of the richer settlers who 
had been established in the country for nearly a 
century." 

248 



Coming of the Kings Girls 

After this description of the coming of 
the " king's girls " to New France, La Hon- 
tan gives his opinion of other pecuharities 
of the country, which, though interesting, 
have no place in these pages. I will only 
dwell upon this subject long enough to give 
the dowry of one of the officers' daughters 
to whom he refers. It was as follows: — 

"Two hundred francs, four sheets, two table- 
cloths, six napkins of linen and hemp, a mattress, 
a blanket, two dishes, six spoons and six tin plates, 
a pot and kettle, a table and two benches, a knead- 
ing trough, a chest with lock and key, a cow 
and a pair of swine. But a poor girl brought 
her husband only a barrel of bacon, and that 
not to be delivered until the ships arrived from 
France." 

As I have said, many worldly customs 
crept into the hitherto simple and pious 
life of the colony through the coming of 
these Old World swains and lasses. To 
counteract these influences the clergy is- 
249 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

sued edicts and warnings innumerable, even 
drawing up a code of behavior for the women. 
They reproved them sternly for their extra- 
vagance in dress, declaring that the rich and 
dazzling fabrics in which they arrayed them- 
selves were far beyond their means. The 
clerical wrath was directed particularly 
against the way of dressing the hair, for the 
heads were uncovered and full of strange 
trinkets and the hair worn in the immodest 
curls so expressly forbidden by Saints Peter 
and Paul. The terrible fate of the unfor- 
tunate Pretexta was cited by one of these 
censors. Her hands were withered and she 
died a painful death and was precipitated 
into hell, because she curled the hair of a 
niece and dressed her up in a worldly 
fashion. 

Yet the light-hearted women continued to 

enjoy their new frivolities, in spite of the 

mandates of Church and clergy, for " Gallic 

gayety will out, in the backwoods or on the 

250 



Coming of the Kings Girls 

boulevards." The annals of the times tell 
of many severe measures resorted to by the 
clergy to keep the maids and young matrons 
within the established bound of decorum. 
At one time there was a law that all girls 
and women should be shut up in their 
houses at nine o'clock at night, and those 
who violated this injunction and attended a 
masked ball were dragged from their beds 
at midnight by officers of the town and 
whipped. Women of quality were forbidden 
to wear lace, and those who wore their hair 
in a topknot were refused the privilege of 
the communion. 

Notwithstanding these outcries, the frivo- 
lous customs of the mother country took 
deep root and flourished in the now thriving 
colonies. The worldly-minded Count Fron- 
tenac, recalled as governor of New France in 
1689, did his best to encourage this new 
order of things, and himself took the lead in 
many of the most scandalous proceedings. 
251 



Maids & Matro7is of New France 

He was in constant warfare with the Jesuits, 
and took pleasure in introducing those 
forms of diversion that he knew were par- 
ticularly distasteful to them. Masked balls 
and plays were given and were attended by 
the most devout people of the community, 
women as well as men. 

The first ball given in Canada caused little 
censure from these pious guardians of the 
public morals, for it was soon after the ar- 
rival of the Carignan soldiers and the " king's 
girls," and these new recruits had to be be- 
guiled into remaining by every possible 
means. There was a time also, half a cen- 
tury earlier, when the first theatrical per- 
formance represented there was not only 
approved by the clergy but received their 
enthusiastic co-operation. This was in 
1640, and was for the purpose of teaching 
the savages the awful consequences of not 
accepting Christian doctrine. It was a serio- 
comic play, given at Quebec at the sugges- 
252 



Coining of the King's Girls 

tion of the governor to celebrate the birth of 
the dauphin, who now, as Louis XIV., was 
devoting himself with such zeal to the inter- 
ests of the colony. " I would not have be- 
lieved," says Father Le Jeune in his journal, 
" that such a splendid performance could 
have been given in Quebec." 

" The Sieur Martial Piraube, who superintended 
the play and assumed the principal part in it, suc- 
ceeded admirably. But that our Savages might 
derive some benefit from it, Monsieur the Cheva- 
lier de Montmagny, our governor, endowed with 
no ordinary zeal and prudence, invited us to intro- 
duce something into the play which might attract 
their attention and impress itself on their memory. 
Accordingly, we caused the soul of an infidel to 
be pursued by two furies who finally drove it into 
a yawning chasm vomiting forth flames. The 
struggles, cries, and shrieks of these furies, who 
spoke the Indian tongue, so penetrated the hearts 
of some of the Savages, that one of them told me 
the next day he had spent a horrible night, seeing 
in his dreams a terrible gulf whence issued flames 
and demons, which seemed about to seize and 
carry him away." 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

This representation, together with pictures 
alive with lost souls and pursuing demons, 
for which Le Jeune sent expressly to France, 
had the desired effect for a while, and pray- 
ing savages were stumbled upon everywhere 
throughout the little settlement. 

But the plays of Count Frontenac were of 
quite a different character from these pious 
representations, and would have caused the 
zealous Le Jeune, now dead some forty 
years, to turn over in his grave. Instead 
of awakening the consciences of benighted 
savages, they were intended rather to hold 
up to ridicule the Jesuit friars themselves 
and their precepts. The clerical party bit- 
terly and vigorously opposed this innovation, 
for it meant the introduction into simple 
Canadian life of the vices, excesses, and 
loose manners of the Old World, that were 
bound to counteract the effect of all their 
teachings. But to their chagrin, the plays 
continued to be given and were participated 
254 



Coming of the Kings Girls 

in by some of the most zealous of their 
adherents. The ladies frequently curtailed 
their devotions to take part in the rehearsals 
of some interdicted play, and so readily fell 
into the new order of things that jewels, 
low-necked gowns, and volumes of Moliere or 
Corneille had soon superseded the prayer- 
book and rosary. But what no interdict 
of priest or bishop could effect came about 
through ominous rumors that began to be 
circulated throughout the colony. All friv- 
olities ceased, the men took to polishing their 
swords and practising military tactics, and 
the women to their devotions. There was 
cause enough to sober the most volatile 
member of the now thriving colony, for the 
long peace was about to be broken in upon 
by the most formidable attack that their 
enemies, the English, had ever planned 
against them. This was the first siege of 
Quebec. 



255 



II 

WOMEN IN THE FIRST SIEGE 
OF QUEBEC 

I HAVE stated in the story of Madeleine 
de Vercheres that there was another 
occasion, two years before her defence of 
Castle Dangerous, when her father was 
obliged to be away on military duty. In 
1690 he, with all other able-bodied men 
capable of bearing arms, was summoned to 
Quebec by the governor of the colony, to 
help defend it against the two invading 
forces of the English army, which were to 
annihilate all the French colonies in the 
New World. 

Since the earliest discoveries In America 
England and France had been contending 
over the ownership of territory there. We 
256 



Women in the First Siege of Quebec 

have seen how de Poutrincourt's colony at 
Port Royal was destroyed by the English 
under Captain Argall in 1613, and how 
Dame Hebert was left alone with her little 
family on the dreary heights of Quebec await- 
ing the return of the French, who had been 
obliged to yield to the victorious Kirke in 
1629. For nearly sixty years afterwards 
there was a truce in these contentions, each 
colony being, too much occupied with inter- 
nal disorders and harrowing strife with the 
surrounding savages to renew hostilities. 

But one day in the autumn of 1690 a New 
England fleet, under Sir William Phips, sailed 
off to the north, and after a voyage of six 
weeks turned into the great Gulf of St. Law- 
rence. There was also a formidable English 
army making its way by land toward Mont- 
real. By these two invading forces New 
France was to be crushed definitely. 

Count Frontenac was still governor of 
the colony. He was not popular with all 
17 257 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

of the people, especially with the clergy, as 
has been said. But the home government 
recognized in him a vigorous administrator, 
fitted, if any one was, to handle the compli- 
cated affairs of the colony. He dealt with 
the difficulties which confronted him there 
in an original manner, which succeeded in 
solving some of the most vexed questions, 
particularly that important one which re- 
lated to their attitude toward the Iroquois. 
He adopted a new and comparatively suc- 
cessful method of treating this hostile nation, 
by declaring a truce to the eternal warfare 
waged against them, and sought their 
friendship. 

Many amusing anecdotes are told of him 
while trying to carry out this policy. He 
entered into their pastimes with enthusiasm 
and sincerity. Once, to gain their good-will 
for some particular object, he is said to have 
joined in one of their war-dances, and to 
have danced with such agility and abandon, 
258 



Women in the First Siege of Quebec 

in spite of his seventy years, that he outdid 
the most proficient of the Indians, who 
laughingly applauded his performance. He 
went among them frequently on some ami- 
cable mission, seldom returning to Quebec 
without being accompanied by the dark-eyed 
daughter of some powerful chief. These 
were educated among the French, and were 
sent back as peacemakers to their nation. 

It was while on one of these pacific mis- 
sions among the Iroquois that he learned of 
the impending attack on Quebec. A faith- 
ful Indian ally, hearing of Sir William 
Phips' projected expedition from an English- 
woman captured by his tribe, walked all the 
way from the coast of Maine to Quebec to 
apprise the colonists of their danger. Thus 
warned, by the time Admiral Phips had 
dropped anchor before Quebec the batteries 
which crowned its rocky summit were in 
readiness to receive him. The English 
admiral sent a messenger to Frontenac to 
259 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

demand the surrender of Quebec in the 
name of the King of England. The subter- 
fuges resorted to by the French to impress 
this envoy with the strength and extent of 
their fortifications are recounted by the his- 
torians of the times. He was blindfolded, 
led over barricade after barricade, up steep 
slopes and through narrow passages. As 
he passed through the soldiers' quarters they 
clanked their swords and stamped their feet 
to give the impression of a great army 
marchinsf. When he entered the council 
chamber, and his eyes were unbandaged, 
the dazzling uniforms of the high officials 
of the government and the haughty expres- 
sions of their faces made such an impression 
upon him that he almost lost his self-control 
and with difficulty delivered his message. 

Nothing now remains of the old Chateau 

St. Louis, where this historic meeting took 

place, to satisfy the curiosity of the modern 

tourist. It dated back to Champlain's time 

260 



Women in the First Siege of Quebec 

and stood, with various alterations ancf 
through many changes and vicissitudes, for 
more than two centuries. The present 
magnificent Chateau Frontenac, built upoff 
its site, is a fitting monument to the name of 
this hero, but it were better had the old 
council chamber been left to commemorate to 
the French Canadian boy of to-day the in- 
dependent spirit of his forefathers. Here he 
could see in imagination the nervous envoy 
fumbling for the watch given him by his 
master, handing it to Frontenac and demand- 
ino- that in one hour from the time indicated 
he should expect his answer. And he could 
hear the wrathful old governor thundering 
forth the famous challenge, " I will not keep 
you waiting so long, sir! Go tell your 
master that I will answer him only by the 
mouth of my cannon. , Let him do his best 
and I will do mine !" 

It is not in my province to describe this 
momentous siege, but let us turn for a few 
261 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

moments to those two familiar buildings, 
the Hotel-Dieu and the seminary, to view 
briefly the part the women took in it. At 
the first alarm they were warned to leave 
Quebec and take refusre in the villap;e of 
Lorette among the peaceful Huron Indians 
who were still living under their protection. 
The seminary was in a particularly danger- 
ous position, directly in a line with the 
cannon of the hostile fleet. Hasty prepara- 
tions were made for flight, although these 
faithful women were reluctant to leave this 
great institution with all its valuable con- 
tents, not the least being the historical 
documents stored in its archives. As it 
turned out, they were not obliged to do this, 
after all, for as soon as Count Frontenac 
appeared on the scene, he peremptorily 
ordered them to remain, urging the neces- 
sity of their being there to minister to the 
soldiers and comfort the frightened women 
and children. Hundreds of the helpless 
262 



Women in the First Siege of Quebec 

inhabitants took refuge among them, and 
taxed their accommodations to the utmost 
during the five or six days that the siege 
lasted. There was not enough room to sit 
down, and one of the women artlessly com- 
plains in her journal that they were obliged 
during all this time to stand, and to eat 
what food was left after the others had been 
supplied. Ball after ball passed through the 
walls of the building, creating havoc among 
the inmates and almost irreparable injury to 
the building itself. The one which caused 
the most consternation was that which tore 
a hole in a woman's apron, carrying the 
piece away with it, but happily causing no 
more serious trouble. 

The women of the Hotel-Dieu were pre- 
pared to receive the wounded and dying and 
minister to their wants. But, fortunately, 
they were not often called upon for these 
services, as there were only a few of the 
French wounded in the siege and still fewer 
263 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

killed. But if not called upon as nurses, 
they were much in demand at this time 
as purveyors to the hungry soldiers and 
officers. They tell plaintively how they 
were obliged to cook peas and beans by the 
boilerful and how the impatient men would 
eat the bread out of the oven before it was 
half baked. They warmed themselves at 
their fires, plundered their garden, and even 
carried off their lumber to make palisades. 

The ladies of the government circle, who 
had so recently been slaves to folly and 
fashion, were now devoted to their prayer- 
books. Incessant prayers and vows were 
sent up to heaven by them for preservation 
from the powerful foe moored yonder with 
his formidable wall of stately ships. At first 
view of these, even the most sanguine of the 
French officers had little expectation of suc- 
cess against them. But an incompetent 
commander, unfamiliar with the St. Law- 
rence and its landmarks, sickness and hunger 
264 



IVomen in the First Siege of Quebec 

among the soldiers, and a lack of provisions 
for a long siege, resulted in humiliating 
defeat. 

The haughty Admiral Phips, completely 
humbled, dropped anchor in his retreat 
below the Isle of Orleans to take account of 
his losses and repair some of the damage 
done by the French batteries. While en- 
gaged in this duty a comely Frenchwoman, 
Madame La Lande, appeared before him 
and humbly begged the favor of being 
sent with her daughter, Madame Joliet, as 
envoys to Count Frontenac to request an ex- 
change of prisoners. These two ladies, 
granddaughter and great-granddaughter re- 
spectively of our first pioneer matron. Dame 
Hebert, had been taken prisoners by Phips 
thirty leagues below Quebec from an out- 
going French vessel. Her request was 
granted and the two were sent on parole to 
lay the matter before the governor of Quebec. 

In the evening Madame La Lande and 
265 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Madame Joliet, whose name will be familiar 
to American readers, for it was her husband, 
Louis Joliet, to whom the discovery and ex- 
ploration of much of the Mississippi valley- 
is due, returned to the ship with Frontenac's 
consent to the exchange. It was effected 
the next morning, the French prisoners were 
taken back to Quebec, and the English, 
among whom were the two beautiful daugh- 
ters of one of the lieutenants, were brought 
to the admiral's ship and taken on board. 
Then it sailed out into the Atlantic, to meet 
further disaster there from the furious 
autumn gales that were then raging over 
the ocean. The hearts of the French colo- 
nists were filled with joy, which culminated 
soon after when they saw sailing up the 
broad river the long-expected ships from 
France which were bringing them their 
annual supplies. A long and gorgeous pro- 
cession was formed of the most distinguished 
men and women in the colony, in honor of 
266 



Women in the First Siege of Quebec 

Frontenac and all the saints and soldiers 
who had been instrumental in the victory, 
and marched about the town with songs of 
praise and thanksgiving. A chapel which 
was being erected in the Lower Town was 
christened, to proclaim this great event to 
posterity. "Our Lady of the Victory." It 
may be seen to-day, in much of its primitive 
simplicity, opposite the old hotel which 
marks Madame de la Peltrie's first night in 
New France. Twenty-one years later, on 
the occasion mentioned in the story of 
Jeanne Le Ber, when her banner was car- 
ried against the English in another unsuc- 
cessful attack, the name was changed to 
" Our Lady of the Victories." 

Count Frontenac did not live many years 
longer to lead his countrymen to victory, 
but the follies he encouraged took deep root 
and flourished. Quebec became a miniature 
Paris, and the stately dames of the Canadian 
court rivalled their sisters across the sea in 
267 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

extravagance and prodigality, as well as in 
many of the corrupt practices of society in 
the mother country ; until finally scandal 
and intrigue culminated in the administra- 
tion of the notorious Fran9ois Bigot and his 
partner in vice, Madame de Pean. 



268 



Ill 

THE TWO POMPADOURS 

OR 

WOMEN IN THE DOWNFALL OF NEW 
FRANCE 

THE passing of New France from the 
geography of French possessions in 
the New World occurred during the reign 
of Louis XV., great-grandson of Louis XIV., 
and the woman known in history as " La 
Pompadour." A few words will recall to 
the reader the position this woman held in 
the affairs of France. 

The place of king's favorite had been 
made vacant by the death of Madame de 
Chateauroux. Madame d'Etioles, wife of a 
petty officer of the kingdom, beautiful, witty, 
accomplished, aspired to fill it. She con- 
trived to meet the king frequently in his 
269 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

hunts, appearing ravishingly attired as Diana, 
sometimes in blue in a rose-colored phaeton, 
then in rose in a blue phaeton. These 
casual meetings so piqued the curiosity of 
the king that at a great masked ball at the 
Hotel de Ville he managed to have several 
interviews with the beautiful huntress. The 
conquest thus auspiciously begun was con- 
summated when, as she was leaving the 
ball-room, she dropped her handkerchief 
purposely near her royal admirer. He 
picked it up and tossed it to her over the 
heads of the people. Madame d'Etioles 
caught the filmy bit of lace, made a low and 
graceful curtsey, and passed out with the 
crowd. Soon after this she became known 
as Madame de Pompadour, and began, in 
the palace at Versailles, a reign of pleasure, 
frivolity, and abandonment which lasted for 
nearly twenty years, and which has imprinted 
her name not only on the leaves of history, 
but on headdresses, fabrics, and stately house- 
270 



Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, [Marquise de Pompadour 



The Two Pompadours 

hold furnishings. In her boudoir the busi- 
ness of the kingdom was transacted. A nod 
of approval, a suggestion, a curt negative, 
made and unmade men. The king showered 
her with the riches of the tottering realm 
and staked its security on her caprices. His 
ministers remonstrated with him on his 
neglect of the colonies. To these remon- 
strances he disdainfully replied that the 
colonies would likely last as long as the 
monarchy. But they were destined to 
fall long before even the fickle king an- 
ticipated. 

Two years before the close of the seven- 
teenth century Count Frontenac had died 
in the place which had been the scene of 
his great achievements. History has not ex- 
onerated him from participation in the frauds 
which afterwards assumed such magnitude; 
although dishonesty in the government of 
Canada had been introduced long before he 

became its chief executive. In some curious 
271 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

old documents, carefully treasared in the 
historical archives of Quebec, he accuses 
the missionaries with showing a greater zeal 
for acquiring the skin of the beaver than 
saving the souls of the savages. The mis- 
sionaries retaliate by implicating him in the 
same traffic. Few who had the opportunity 
to indulge in it could resist this tempting 
means of increasing their incomes. Valu- 
able furs of the lynx, otter, seal, and marten, 
gained from the simple Indians in exchange 
for a few flasks of firewater, were sold to the 
New England colonists or to European traders 
for fabulous sums. Not only the men but 
the women engaged in this fascinating 
pastime, and even Madame Denonville, the 
governor's wife, who was held up by the 
bishop to the ladies of Quebec as a model 
of propriety, set up a shopful of goods in the 
official residence, and what she could not sell 
over the counter she disposed of by a lottery. 
This illegal barter, which increased with 
272 



The Two Pompadours 

each succeeding governor, was well known 
to the home government, but was graciously 
overlooked by indulgent ministers. When 
a complaint against one of the last and most 
unscrupulous governors. Monsieur Vau- 
dreuil, was sent to the king's minister, the 
latter only wrote on the margin of the docu- 
ment, " Well, he 's poor ! " Monsieur Per- 
rot, governor of Montreal, whose transaction 
with an Indian has been mentioned in a 
previous chapter, was applauded because he 
cleverly multiplied a yearly salary of a thou- • 
sand crowns by fifty, through this traffic 
with the Indians. 

It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that 
when the peculations of these men of fairly 
good repute were overlooked by the minis- 
ters of King Louis, those of Fran9ois Bigot, 
who came to Quebec as intendant, or associate 
governor, in 1747, should have been allowed 
to assume such magnitude that in ten years 
they brought about the ruin of the colony. 
18 273 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

This " king of knaves " was one of the 
favorites of La Pompadour and had been 
appointed through her influence. Soon 
after his arrival he built the celebrated ware- 
house called " La Friponne " (the Fraud) for 
the storage of grain which he wrung from 
the starving people. Agents were sent by 
him throughout all Canada to buy up the 
grains which, by a royal decree, the farmers 
had to sell him at a certain price. In 
reply to their expostulations, for they had 
toiled hard for these precious crops, the 
decree was thrust into their faces, and they 
were told that if they refused to give up 
the grain it would be confiscated. In 
this way La Friponne was soon filled 
with the best produce of the colony. It 
was sold at a high price to the govern- 
ment, and the profit realized was shared 
by Bigot and his associates. One of these 
was Hugues de Pean, who is known to pos- 
terity chiefly as the husband of the most 
274 



The Two Pompadours 

celebrated woman in the latter days oi 
Quebec. 

So many romantic incidents have been 
woven about Madame de Pean's life, that it 
is difficult, from the meagre mention of her 
in the old documents of the times, to gather 
her real history. For, while the saints of 
New France have left authenticated, and in 
some cases voluminous, records of their lives, 
the sinners have not perpetuated their deeds 
on the pages of history. 

Angelique des Meloises, afterward Ma- 
dame de Pean, was the daughter of an in- 
fluential citizen of Quebec, whose family 
name had been memorable in the annals 
of the colony ever since the coming of the 
Carignan-Salieres regiment. She was edu- 
cated among the Ursulines, where one of 
her aunts had, many years before, immured 
herself through an unhappy love affair and 
had died after praying twenty years for the 
one who had deceived her. This institution 
275 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

was still carrying out the precept of Mother 
Marie Guyard to " teach girls all they ought 
to know," and half the young girls of Canada 
were being educated in it. But it seemed 
that all a girl ought to know in those times 
was very little. Angelique came forth from 
the seminary a beautiful girl, with a fondness 
for dress, a love of admiration, and aspira- 
tions for power and great wealth. Even the 
dry historians of those days, who are loath 
to devote more than a passing notice to the 
women who take part in the events they 
describe, characterize her as "lively, witty, 
mild, and obliging, and her conversation 
amusing." 

She was tall, with bronze-gold hair, a fair 
complexion, and a pair of magnetic eyes 
which had a wonderful power over those 
whom she wished to attract. In truth, she 
had all the graces of the beautiful French- 
woman of the world. A recent novelist,^ 

1 William Kirby — The Golden Dog. 
276 



The Two Pompadours ■ 

who makes her the heroine of a brilliant 
romance, has pictured her to his readers in 
the zenith of her youth and beauty. She 
is leaning over her balcony in a fine old 
mansion on St. Louis Street. Arrayed in 
the Parisian finery brought over in the last 
ship, decked with dazzling jewels, she meets 
with an answering smile the admiring 
glances cast up at her by the cavaliers who 
pass with clanking swords down the roughly 
paved and narrow thoroughfare. Here she 
sat of summer evenings, surrounded by a 
bevy of Quebec's fair daughters, and wove 
those dreams of love and intrigue which 
were to make her the greatest of them all. 

Many of these young gallants, rich, hand- 
some, and well-born, were her declared suitors. 
The favored one was the young Seigneur 
de Repentigny, whose fair kinswoman, 
Madeleine de Repentigny, has been referred 
to in the story of Madame de la Peltrie. 
The story of this young cavalier's ardent 
277 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

wooing of Angelique, his wild revels, his 
jealousy, and the tragic denouement brought 
about through the coquetry of this capri- 
cious beauty, whose ambition had assumed 
the form of an intrigue with the intendant 
Bigot, have been depicted by the novelist 
in thrilling and realistic language. Her 
hand was finally conferred upon Hugues de 
Pean, who was then secretary to Bigot. 

Not long after his marriage to Angelique 
des Meloises, Monsieur de Pean engaged in 
a transaction which made him immensely 
rich. Money was advanced to him by his 
chief from the public treasury, and with this 
he purchased great quantities of wheat from 
the surrounding farmers. This was sold to 
the government at a profit, and De Pean 
became one of the wealthiest men of Que- 
bec. Fran9ois Bigot became a daily guest 
at his home, and the highest dames of Que- 
bec, however rebellious, were made to bow 
down before the fair Angelique as their 
278 



7he Old cMansion still Stands" 



The Two Pompadours 

leader. The old mansion which he gave 
her about this time still exists, and when 
tourists direct their steps to 59 St. Louis 
Street they will see a house made memorable 
by the downfall of a beautiful woman and, 
indirectly, the ruin of a colony. 

Madame de Pean, who became known as 
La Pompadour of New France, drew lav- 
ishly on the purse of the intendant, or, in 
other words, upon the treasury of New 
France, and for many years lived in pomp 
and luxury equal to that of her rival across 
the sea. But, though she could command 
the purse of the erratic Bigot, she could not 
command his fickle affections, and a rival at 
Beaumanoir, his castle in the woods, made her 
heart burn with jealousy, and, it is whispered, 
caused her to stain her hand with blood. 

Five miles away, near the little village of 

Charlesbourg, there was a lonely building 

which Monsieur Bigot called his hermitage. 

He was wont to go with a party of boon 

279 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

companions to hunt in the neighboring 
forests and return to the " Hermitage " at 
night. Wild scenes of revelry took place 
in this thick-walled, solitary building, though 
little is known of their character, for the 
life led in this retreat is veiled in mystery. 
An episode which appears persistently on 
the pages of history, and yet is more mys- 
terious and unauthenticated than all the rest, 
is that of the murder of the Indian girl 
Caroline.^ 

The intendant was one day following an 
old bear in the vicinity of Beaumanoir, and 
in his quest was led over hills and through 
ravines, on and on, until he found himself 
separated from his companions. Eagerly 
he sought a path that would lead him out 
of the labyrinth, but in vain. Realizing that 
he was lost, he stood pondering over his 

^ The story of Caroline is taken from a French writer 
who is supposed to have heard it from the lips of his 
grandfather. 

280 



The Two Pompadours 

luckless position, when his alert ear detected 
the sound of footsteps near him. A slight 
and graceful woman stood before him, with 
raven tresses, eyes black as night, a delicate 
skin, and arrayed in a garment of spotless 
white. It was an Indian girl, but her fair 
skin betrayed a mixed origin. An errant 
Acadian baron, descendant of one of those 
referred to in the story of Lady La Tour, 
had been her father, and a daughter of the 
Algonquins her mother. Struck by her 
wonderful beauty. Monsieur Bigot asked her 
to show him the way to the castle. Thus 
occurred the first meeting between the beau- 
tiful Caroline and the French intendant. 

Soon whispers of the presence of a fair 
Indian maiden at Beaumanoir reached the 
ears of the people of Quebec, and among 
others those of the "sultana," Madame de 
Pean. One night, when the hall clock in 
the great castle had just struck eleven, and 
silence reigned throughout the place, the 
281 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Indian girl's room was burst into, a masked 
person stood at her bedside, and without a 
word plunged a dagger into her heart. Ut- 
tering a piercing shriek, the victim leaped 
into the air and fell heavily upon the floor. 
The intendant rushed upstairs, raised the 
dying girl, who pointed to the weapon still 
in the wound and then expired. Some of 
the inmates of the house fancied they had 
seen the figure of a woman run down the 
secret stairs and disappear, but a profound 
mystery surrounds the tragedy to this day. 
Caroline was buried in the cellar of the 
castle and the letter " C " was engraved on 
the tombstone. This monument to an ill- 
starred love in Quebec's days of chivalry 
remained until less than half a century ago, 
but now nothing but a heap of ruins, covered 
with weeds and rank grass, recalls to the eye 
of the tourist the tragedy of Beaumanoir. 

The death of the hapless Caroline was 
never publicly investigated. The " king of 
282 



Louis Joseph, [Marquis de tMontcalm-Goion de Saint-yeran 



The Two Pompadours 

knaves" dared not have his dark deeds 
exposed to the light. For ten years he 
and Madame de Pean continued their 
career. 

Bigot was passing the evening with her 
when the despatches were brought announc- 
ing that the Enghsh were at the gates of 
Quebec. The noble Montcalm had strug- 
gled in vain against the ruinous adminis- 
tration of him and his associates, and had 
turned away in disgust from the artificiality 
and corruption which they had introduced 
into the society of the colony. 

The meeting of the two heroes, Montcalm 
and Wolfe, on the Plains of Abraham, is too 
well known to need repeating here. Sup- 
ported by two soldiers on either side of his 
horse, the dying Montcalm passed through 
one of the city gates on his retreat from the 
victorious English. "My God!" cried one 
of a group of women, " My God ! the Mar- 
quis is killed ! " *' It 's nothing, it 's noth- 
283 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

ing," replied Montcalm, "don't be troubled 
for me, my good friends." 

The next evening a sorrowful escort of 
soldiers marched up the narrow streets of 
Quebec bearing the body of their chief to 
the chapel of the Ursuline seminary on 
Parloir Street. It was deposited there in a 
large cavity made in the floor by an ex- 
ploding English bomb. There may be seen 
to-day the memorial slab which marks the 
resting-place of one whom fate had destined 
to be the last worthy representative of a 
great kingdom in America. 

After the fall of New France the infamous 
Bisot returned to the motherland. Here 
he was thrown into the Bastile where he re- 
mained for eleven months. His trial in 1763 
attracted the attention of all Europe, and 
with that of the others connected with his 
frauds, lasted three years. He escaped with 
a light sentence of banishment to Bordeaux, 
where he passed the rest of his life in ease 
284 



The Two Pompadours 

and comfort. Major Pean, his tool, was 
obliged to make a restitution to the French 
government of six hundred thousand francs. 
And the fair Angelique, having discarded 
both her husband and her lover on hear- 
ing of their downfall, was left behind in 
Quebec, now filled with the English con- 
querors. She would fain have crossed the 
sea also, to take up her residence under the 
very shadows of the palace of Versailles, 
there to become the rival of La Pompadour 
herself. But the latter, hearing of her in- 
tentions, determined to thwart her in this 
ambition, for rumors of the allurements of 
the Quebec siren had long since reached 
her ears. She forbade her to cross the 
boundaries of France, threatening, if her 
commands were disregarded, to have her 
imprisoned. Angelique was obliged to 
tarry in Quebec, where she shone on in un- 
diminished splendor and magnificence until 
within two decades of the nineteenth century. 
285 



Maids & Matrons of New France 

Louis XV. is said to have slept peace- 
fully after ceding to the King of England, 
at Madame de Pompadour's instigation, the 
" few acres of snow," known as New France. 
The pious missionaries, who made the first 
white man's tracks in the forests ; the hardy 
Champlain and his long line of successors in 
the eternal warfare of civilization against 
savagery; the intrepid explorers who opened 
a vast continent to future generations of 
Americans; the dogged settler who hewed 
his way into a home through snow and 
ice and the insurmountable obstacles of 
a northern wilderness ; and the groups of 
pioneer women who made civilized life a 
possibility in this land of barbarism ; they, 
too, slept on peacefully in their graves. 
Their lives were monuments in them- 
selves, their deeds commemorative inscrip- 
tions which no temporal change in their 
adopted land could efface. 



286 



Francis Parkman's Works 

NEW LIBRARY EDITION 



Printed from entirely new plates, in clear and beautiful type, 
upon a choice laid paper. With portraits of Parkman, and 
illustrated with twenty-four photogravure plates executed by 
Goupil from historical portraits, and from original drawings 
and paintings by Howard Pyle, De Cost Smith, Thule de 
Thulestrup, Frederic Remington, Orson Lowell, Adrien 
Moreau, and other artists. 

Thirteen volumes, medium octavo, cloth, gilt top, 
price, $26.00; half calf, extra, gilt top, $58.50; half 
crushed Levant morocco, extra, gilt top, $78.00; half 
morocco, gilt top, $58.50. Any work supplied separ- 
ately in cloth, $2.00 per volume. 

LIST OF VOLUMES. 

PIOHEERS OF FRANCE HJ TEE NEW WORLD I vol. 

THE JESUITS IW NORTH A3VIERICA I vol. 

LA SALLE AUD THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST . I vol. 

THE OLD REGIME IN CANADA I vol. 

COUNT FRONTENAC AND HEW FRANCE UNDER LOUIS XIV I vol. 

A HALF CENTURY OF CONFLICT 2 vols. 

MONTCALM AND WOLFE 2 vols. 

THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTLAC AND THE INDIAN WAR 

AFTER THE CONQUEST OF CANADA 2 vols. 

THE OREGON TRAIL I vol. 

LIFE OF PARKMAN. By Charles Haight Farnham I vol. 

Parkman in perfect form. . . . That the books are light in the 
hand and present a clean page to the eye is particularly gratify- 
ing, because an historian is not merely an authority for purposes 
of reference alone ; he is an imaginative word painter, to be read 
for the sheer pleasure of reading him. — Neiv York Tribune. 

Of all American historians he is the most peculiarly American, 
and yet he is the broadest and most cosmopolitan. — Prof. John 
Fiske. 



LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, Publishers 
254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 



Francis Parkman's Works 

EXTRACTS FROM NOTICES 

In Parkman's hand, history charms us as only the finer fiction 
can charm. Clear, sober, and elegant in his style, a natural 
artist in his diction, he gave picturesqueness, life, movement, 
to what he wished to set before his reader. The child and adult 
reader alike find him acceptable. — E. Irenaeus Stevenson, 
in Harper'' s IVeekly. 

Free industrial England pitted against despotic militant France 
for the possession of an ancient continent reserved for this 
decisive struggle, and dragging into the conflict the belated 
barbarism of the Stone Age — such is the wonderful theme 
which Parkman has treated. — Prof. John Fiske. 

His ideal manhood was the highest and purest. It was this 

that made the tone of his writing so ennobling and uplifting. — 

Charles W. Eliot, Preside}^ of Harvard Vninjersity. 

His place is alongside of the greatest historians. — The Athenaum^ 

London. 

Among all historians who have written in English, where, in 
fact, save in Gibbon, shall we seek for the superior of Parkman 
in originality of research, accuracy of statement, and charm of 
style, or, for that matter, for Parkman' s equal. . . . 
Those books stand unrivalled among histories as books of the 
finest romance. The events he chronicled were events hap- 
pening on frontiers ; often at mere trading posts ; sometimes on 
the shores of lakes where no one dwelt except savages ; again 
in the dense forest, as at Great Meadows, where Washington 
won his spurs as a soldier, and where, in the death of Jumonville, 
was fired the shot which, in Parkman's words, " set the world 
on fire." No volumes have ever been written by a historian 
which Americans ought to read with a more absorbed interest, 
or with their minds more completely charmed. . . . 
Parkman' s style accounts vastly for the charm of all his books. 
While he has the restraint that befits the man of learning, he has 
elevation and picturesqueness. We see the artist in the man of 
letters. Something of graceful dignity pervades his pages and 
at times they have grandeur. — Nenu York "Times. 



THREE HEROINES of NEW 
ENGLAND ROMANCE 

I. PRISCILLA, by Harriet Prescott Spofford 

II. AGNES SURRIAQE, by Alice Brown 

III. MARTHA HILTON, by Louise Imogen Guiney 

With notes on the towns in which they lived, and eighty- 
seven illustrations, including numerous full-page pictures. 
By EDMUND H. GARRETT. 



12mo. Cloth, gilt top, $2.00 
Full morocco, giltedges, $4.50 



A charming volume, dealing with the courtship and marriage 
of three famous beauties of old colonial times. 
Mr. Garrett's notes describe and illustrate the famous old 
towns of Plymouth, Marblehead, and Portsmouth. 

The old stories are told again with renewed sweetness by the 
pens of three New England women of to-day. — Nenxi England- 
Magazine. 

Gracefully written and felicitously illustrated. — The Literary 
World. 

One of the most dainty and altogether pleasing examples of 
symmetrical and harmonious book-making we have seen. — 
The Independent. 

The romantic stories of these three beautiful women are placed 
in a book bound In artistic manner — in delicate gray, pale 
blue, or white with gold — a volume which would have been 
a wonder to plainly nurtured Priscllla, whose sole books were 
doubtless her leather-bound Bible and her Ill-printed, parch- 
ment-covered psalm-book. Even the luxury-loving Lady 
Wentworth knew naught of such daintiness. — Alice Morse 
Earle, in the Booh Buyer, 

LITTLE, BROWN, l^ COMPANY, Publishers 
254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 



A Brilliant Historical Romance of the Founding of Detroit 

A DAUGHTER OF 
NEW FRANCE 

With some Account of the Gallant Sieur Cadillac 
and his Colony on the Detroit 

By MARY CATHERINE CROWLEY 

Illustrated by CLYDE O. DE LAND 
12mo. DECORATED CLOTH. $1.50 

A story of great 'uraisemblance, — one that seems a veritable 
record of the life and adventures of Normand Guyon, first of 
Quebec, then of Detroit, and lastly of New Orleans. . . . This 
is not a made book, dashed off together for commercial purposes, 
and therefore it deserves the better a popular as well as a critical 
success. ... It is true work, with breadth of conception, 
steadiness of execution, and a pleasant expression of grace and 
gentleness of human life in the forests and on the waters. — Ne'vj 
Tork Mail and Express. 

The author has given us a strong, vivid romance, and has re- 
produced with rare skill the social atmosphere of the time, as 
well as the spirit of adventure that was in the air. The book is 
an unusually good story, well written, and preserving its interest 
until the end. — Brooklyn Eagle. 
The whole story is a delight. — Ne^w Tork World. 
A pretty romance. . . . The bare facts concerning this part of 
American history are full of romantic interest, and the author has 
deftly fitted to them one or two little stories of love. She uses 
to good advantage such dramatic events as the assault in Port 
Royal and the siege of Quebec by Sir William Phipps. . . . 
The story of the founding of Detroit is admirably told, as are all 
the enterprises of the ambitious Cadillac. For these alone, the 
book is worth the reading. — Chicago Tribune. 

LITTLE, BROWN, & COMPANY, Publishers 
254 WASHINGTON STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 



au\tr gi 4Qn7 



7 9 - OCT 15 1901 



